


When You're A Mystery Kid

by AwesomeWriterOfNerds



Category: Coraline (2009), Gravity Falls, ParaNorman (2012), Psychonauts, mystery kids - Fandom
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 08:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 37,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4472516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwesomeWriterOfNerds/pseuds/AwesomeWriterOfNerds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of oneshots about the Mystery Kids, covering a variety of different themes, topics, and genres. Chapter 14: Scrapbooking is actually a lot of fun! Especially when it’s about your awesome team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Hunt Is On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You ever wanted a badass lock-and-load montage about the Mystery Kids? Congratulations, you got one!

**Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs**

**The Hunt Is On**

Coraline face palmed for what seems like the hundredth time today.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to ease the headache that is starting to form. The blue-haired girl left for a quick bathroom break for no more than ten minutes and her friends has managed to turn their relatively-tidy makeshift headquarters into the aftermath of a hurricane.

Groaning, she forced herself to watch the utter complete mess before her.

Books and papers are scattered all over the room, some of them still flying in the middle of the chaos. Most of their mystery hunting equipments are taken off their shelves and left carelessly on the floor, even the highly hi-tech and expensive ones. Trophies and memorabilia from their hunts are scattered across the room, some of them even stuck on the _ceiling_. God knows how _that_ happened.

And that was without mentioning her friends’ antics.

Norman and Neil are sitting on the floor, their hair somehow braided together. They tugged and pulled at each other’s hair, their hands frantically trying to undo the knots. The sight of Mabel laughing her lungs out nearby made it quite clear who put them in their predicament. You’d think the fact that this is also her and her brother’s room would make her a little worried.

And moving to the other half of the Pines twins, who is caught up in yet _another_ heated argument with Raz. The topic of the argument is the same as the others; who is the real brains in the team. They shouted out the advantages that they had over each other, all things Coraline has already heard. While arguments are usually just a bother to the ears, Coraline quickly learned that everything changes when a psychic enters the fray. Especially one that has tendency to use his powers to… _emphasize_ his point.

Strangely, even at the risk of receiving a psi-blast to the face or worse, Dipper still stubbornly refuses to give up his point.

“A careful observation can beat psi-blasting like a lunatic any day!” the twelve-year old exclaimed.

“You won’t be able to observe _anything_ once I’m done psi-blasting you!” the psychic spat back, fists already glowing with psychic energy.

“I can guess your deepest fears even if _my pants are on fire_!” Coraline face palmed again at that sentence. Taunting someone that can start fires with his mind to light your pants on fire is not very smart for someone that’s been dubbed a genius.

Raz’s teeth clenched, and Coraline knew that something bad is sure to happen. “YOU WANNA PROVE THAT?!” he yelled at the other boy’s face, sending a psychic wave at all directions. Equipments and trophies were scattered across the room, and the books and papers are sent flying once again.

Coraline ducked as she saw a book heading straight at her, letting it fly out the still open door. She stood up straight and turned towards the Dipper and Raz, glaring at them with irritation. Unsurprisingly, the two are _still_ arguing. However, Coraline forced herself from lashing out at the two, as, surprisingly, they are not the most potentially destructive people in the room.

Wybie sat in the corner, frantically trying to get his contraption under control. The boy of course, has completely ignored Coraline’s ‘no-experiments-in-the-briefing-room’ policy and decided to work on one of his projects here, just as said project went haywire. Coraline shook her head as the contraption went crazier as a result of Raz’s psychic wave, Wybie getting more frantic along with it.

Coraline moved towards Wybie, ignoring the bickering boys and Mabel and her victims. Suddenly, there was loud boom, accompanied with several loosed bolts being sent flying across the room. Coraline ducked instinctively, and the rest stopped what they’re doing momentarily, and _only_ momentarily.

Coraline’s eyes followed the bolts as they rooted themselves on various parts of the room. One of them actually struck Aggie’s leg, but the girl is currently preoccupied with the sight before her. Coraline followed the technically-older girl’s gaze, and she let out a dejected sigh. Installed on the wall in front of Aggie was four large computer monitors, all filled with error warnings. The girl shifted nervously in her seat, scratching her head in confusion. Warily, Aggie pushed a button on the keyboard, but all it did is cause a hundred more error messages to appear.

Coraline looked back and forth between Aggie and Wybie, not sure who to help first. Mabel’s annoying laughter and Raz and Dipper’s ongoing argument is not helping her decide. While deciding, she noticed one of her friends not being bothered _at all_ by the chaos around them.

Coraline approached the girl, who is watering her plants under the triangular window.

“And just what are you doing?” Coraline asked, hands on her hips.

“A little obvious, don’t you think?” Lili replied, not bothering to turn away from her plants.

“And you’re not the slightest bit bothered by this?” Coraline asked, ducking as a part of Wybie’s contraption flew past her. “GET THAT THING UNDER CONTROL, LOVAT!” she snapped.

“WHAT’D YOU THINK I’VE BEEN DOING, JONESY?!” the boy snapped back, diverting his attention from his contraption to Coraline, which of course did not end well for him.

Coraline shook his head as the contraption caught on fire, Wybie’s panic practically going through the roof at this point. Coraline gladly diverted her attention back to the psychic girl. “So?” she asked again.

“As long as they’re not bothering me, they can do anything they want.” The girl answered simply.

“And what _exactly_ happened here?” Coraline asked, her curious gaze sweeping across the mess that supposedly occurred in the five minutes that she was gone. If it wasn’t for the fact that this room is their headquarters, she would actually be impressed by that feat.

Lili let out a low sigh, setting her watering can down and turning to face Coraline with a mildly annoyed look. “After you left, Wybie started his project here. Dipper unnecessarily tried to help out, Raz called him a know-it-all, and I’m sure you know what happens next. Norman and Neil were minding their own business, until sweater girl comes in, and she hadn’t stopped laughing since then. Wybie tried to do some damage control, but his contraption decided to go psycho all of a sudden. Aggie tried to back away from the craziness, but she accidentally bumped into the keyboard, and now she’s stuck with her own mess.”

After that quick explanation, Lili abruptly turned her attention back to her plants. Coraline shook her head at psychic’s apathy, deciding whether to berate her or not.

 _At least she’s not making a mess._ Coraline thought, turning her attention back to the chaos behind her, which is worsening with every passing second. She took a step forward, readying her loudest shout to gain everyone’s attention. But before she can do that, a different loud noise captured their attention.

A siren, installed just above the door, blared as it bathed the room in flashes of red light. The chaos of the room came to an abrupt stop, replaced by the siren’s blare, gaining everyone’s attention. After a few seconds, the siren stopped, the room now illuminated in a warm, summer sunlight again, but Coraline never expected what happened next.

Dipper and Raz’s argument stopped, the two of them rushing towards the computer. Aggie got out of her seat, quickly replaced by Dipper. With a few button presses, the error warnings and messages on all four monitors disappeared, much to Aggie’s silent relief.

Mabel finally stopped her laughter and, with a few quick tugs, unraveled Norman and Neil’s hair. The three quickly joined Dipper, Raz and Aggie in front of the monitors.

Wybie picked up a fire extinguisher from among the mess and drenched his device with the white substance, putting the fire out but his device is most definitely ruined in the process. Letting out a low, dejected sigh, he put the extinguisher down and joined the others in front of the monitors.

Lili put her watering can down and placed her plants back right under the triangular window. She stood up and made her way to the monitors.

Meanwhile, Coraline stood stunned in the middle of the room, mouth slightly agape from her attempted yell. She was dumbfounded; the fact that the complete chaos in front of her came to an abrupt stop didn’t completely register in her mind.

 _What the-? Did that just… actually happened…?_ The blue haired girl thought.

“Wow, seriously?” said Lili with an un-amused look on her face, breaking Coraline’s trance. “Good to know you think _so_ highly of us.” she continued, sarcasm dripping with every word. It wasn’t until Lili joined the others in front of the monitors that Coraline realized that the girl just read her mind.

Blushing faintly, Coraline joined the others.

Dipper was already typing on his keyboard when she arrived. A full map of Gravity Falls is displayed on the leftmost monitor, with a blinking red dot displayed prominently on the map. With a few button presses, Dipper zooms in on the red dot, revealing it to be close to the waterfall.

“About a mile south of the waterfall.” Dipper stated.

“What lives there? Hide-Behind? The piranha-pigeons?” Norman guessed.

Dipper punched in some more commands, opening up footage of several surveillance cameras on another monitor. It showed several different spots in the forest near the waterfall. Punching more commands, Dipper rewinds the time to about before the siren went off, before playing it again frame by frame. All nine of them watched the footage closely as the frames passed, looking for signs for a creature or anything supernatural.

“There!” Raz shouted, pointing at a footage on the top center of the monitor. Dipper immediately stopped the footage, enlarging the one that Raz is pointing. On screen, there is a blurry image of an all-black, horse-shaped figure.

“It’s that Shadow Mare from last week!” Mabel announced. “He still owes me a ride.” she added with a pout.

“Remember guys, the journal said the Shadow Mare could be a ghost,” Dipper reminded, “if that turns out to be true…”

“Then we’ll take point.” Norman, the team’s expert on ghosts, nodded, alongside Aggie, the team’s other expert on ghostly things.

“Alright, let’s gear up!” Raz announced, already itching for an adventure.

The group quickly dispersed from the monitor, leaving Coraline dumbfounded once again. Wybie snatched three keys off of a hanger on the wall and dashed out of the room. Raz and Lili quickly cleaned up the mess, using their psychic powers of course. Their equipments and trophies flew back to their respective places, returning the room to its original state in a matter of seconds. The deed done, the two walked out of the room, Raz picking up his signature goggles along the way.

Dipper, Mabel, Norman, Neil and Aggie moved to their personal lockers, bolted on the wall opposite of the monitors. Dipper’s locker, decorated with a layer of notes about his personal research, is the rightmost one. Mabel’s is right next to Dipper’s, decorated with colorful stickers and various arts and crafts items, and is also the only one that has been repainted pink. Norman’s is two lockers away from Mabel’s, separated by Wybie’s and Coraline’s. Unlike Dipper’s and Mabel’s, Norman’s locker is colored pitch black, plain and undecorated. The same can be said for the two lockers left of Norman’s, belonging to Aggie and Neil respectively.

Dipper fished out his precious journal, _3_ , out of the locker and tucked it safely in his vest. He pulled out another thing, a utility belt, and fastened it around his waist.  From a special container in his locker, he pulled out several chemical tubes and secured them on his utility belt. From an even more special container, he pulled out a device he made with Wybie’s help. It can mix the chemicals that he brought, enabling a larger variety of uses and making them deadlier than ever. He carefully secured the device on his utility belt.

Mabel opened her locker, gazing at its content with a silly grin. Hanging proudly in the locker is her ‘most amazing sweater of all time ever’. A plain white sweater with the words ‘Mystery Kids’ stitched to it, each letter styled with the characteristics of each of her friends. It also has a layer of strong yet flexible protective padding underneath the fabric, courtesy of Wybie and Dipper. Eagerly, she slipped on her ‘adventure sweater’ over her current sweater, alongside a utility belt similar to Dipper’s. She then took out her trusty grappling hook and secured it on her belt.

Norman opened his locker, pulling out his signature red jacket, now with protective padding similar to Mabel’s, courtesy of Wybie as well. He slipped them on, and pulled a slingshot and a bag of metal pellets from his locker, placing them in his jacket. After discovering that he has a decent aim, Norman reserved this ability for situations like this, and decided that a slingshot is the weapon best suited for him.

Aggie fumbled a little with her locker’s lock before she managed to open it. She pulled out and slipped on a pair of gloves made out of non-conductive material specially designed by Mabel and Wybie, its main purpose is to contain her ‘leftover powers’.

Neil opened his locker with an excited smile, only for it to turn to a horrified look as dozens of brooms and other cleaning tools fell upon him. The others paused their gear-up to stare dumbfounded at the pile of cleaning tools that buried Neil.

“Ow…” the boy moaned in pain.

“Oops…” Mabel spoke, drawing silent sighs from the rest. “I completely forgot about that prank…”

Coraline face palmed. The whole time, as her friends immediately dropped their antics and got down to business, a feeling of pride starts welling up inside her. The fact that the ragtag bunch is capable of getting serious when needed is definitely something to be proud of. However, that prank is like the world trying to remind her that they are all still pre-teens after all.

She took her hand off her face, intending to help Neil, but she was surprised to find that they are already gone, all of the brooms and cleaning equipment crammed back in Neil’s locker. Hurried footsteps from the door suggest that they stuffed them back in and immediately left.

Coraline let a small smile out. _Definitely not your everyday pre-teens though._

Realizing that everyone else must already be ready downstairs, she hurried to her locker. She fished out and put on her signature yellow coat and police cap. Unlike Mabel and Norman, her coat doesn’t have any added protective padding. She pulled out her satchel and, after quickly checking to see if all her equipments are in there, puts it on. Lastly, she took out her mace, securing it to a strap on her satchel.

Now, the blue-haired girl is ready. But, before she left the room, she opened Wybie’s locker and took out his signature mask. She sprinted out of the room, through the house and out the Mystery Shack’s back door.

Outside, the rest of her friends are waiting for her, preparing all three of their ‘Mystery Rides’. The first one, the Mystery Cart, now with some modifications by Wybie, with the materials coming from Raz and Lili’s Psychonaut connections. After getting it from Stan through a lengthy argument, they all worked together and turned the golf cart into their main mystery solving vehicle. While the exterior might still look like an ordinary golf cart, it now has dozens of compartments to store their equipments, and it also has dozens of new functions, most of them can be activated with just a press of a button.

Currently, Dipper, Mabel, Raz, Lili and Neil are tending to it. Dipper is checking and filling some compartments with several of his chemical tubes, Mabel is pumping the tires while Raz, Lili and Neil are seated on their usual spots. Lili and Neil sat on the back, while Raz still stubbornly chooses to place himself on the roof.

The second one of the Mystery Rides, Wybie’s bike-motorcycle hybrid, currently being tended by Wybie. Surprisingly, even though it is his bike, it is the one that Wybie modifies the least. For Coraline, the bike looks the same as it was two years ago, when she first arrived at the Pink Palace.

And finally, the last of the Mystery Rides, Norman’s bicycle. After weeks of persuasion from the others, Norman finally agreed to make his bicycle a part of the Mystery Rides, letting Wybie turn it into a bike-motorcycle hybrid similar to his own. Currently, Norman and Aggie are tending to it.

“You guys ready?” Coraline shouted, catching their attention.

“Just waiting on you, Jonesy.” Wybie replied, getting on his bike.

Stepping towards her friends, Coraline pulled out nine earpieces from her satchel and tossed one to each of them, keeping one for herself. She placed it on her right ear, the others following suit, though Aggie fumbled with it a little.

She walked towards Wybie, handing him his mask. “I think you forgot this. Again.”

Wybie slapped his forehead. “My mask! I knew I forgot something!” He looked at the blue-haired girl sheepishly. “Thanks for getting it for me. Again.”

“Just don’t get used to it.” Coraline replied. “You set or what?”

Grinning from ear to ear, Wybie dons his mask. “More than set.”

“What about the rest of you dorks?”

“Definitely!” Raz shouted from his perch on the Cart’s roof.

“All set!” Dipper exclaimed, hopping onto the Cart’s driver seat, while his twin occupies the seat next to him.

“Same here!” Neil exclaimed cheerfully from the back seat.

“We’re ready.” Norman stated, speaking for him and Aggie as they mounted Norman’s bike. Aggie added a confidant nod as she got on the passenger seat.

“Told ya; we’re just waiting on you.” Wybie spoke.

In response, Coraline gave him a jab in the shoulder. She hopped onto Wybie’s bike. Fixing her cap’s position, she looked around at her friends. To think, that just a few minutes ago they are a bunch of raucous pre-teens. But now, the Mystery Kids are ready to hunt down a mysterious and potentially deadly creature.

_Oh yeah, definitely not your average, everyday kids._

“Rev up those engines guys!” At her command, the Mystery Rides roared to life.  Adrenaline coursed through their veins, each of them already feeling the thrill of the hunt.

A determined grin made its way to each of their features, and that is a sure sign of one thing and one thing only.

“The hunt is _on_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a fic from FanFiction that I'll be periodically moving over to here over the week. Hope you guys liked it!  
> Kudos and comments are much appreaciated!!


	2. Don't Mess With the Mystery Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two different kinds of brainiacs go up against one very big and very angry beast.

**Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs.**

**Don’t Mess With the Mystery Kids**

His legs ached, his lungs felt like it was on fire, but he knew that he can’t afford to stop running, lest the bloodthirsty beast catches up to him. The sweat made it hard for him to hold on to his precious journal, so he held it with both hands and kept it close to his chest. He kept running, not caring that his shoes are soaked with mud or that his clothes are now tattered after plowing through numerous bushes.

When he finally stopped, he felt like he ran a marathon. He leaned against a tree, slowly sliding down until he rested on his bottom. He took deep, ragged breaths, allowing his lungs to cool down and letting his legs get some much deserved rest. He started to relax, letting his grip on his journal loosen bit by bit.

A thump shook the earth, and his body stiffened once more.

He stayed as still as humanly possible, not even taking a breath of air, fearing that the beast might hear his breathing. The thumps grew louder and the earth shook harder, signaling the monster’s approach. As the creature approaches, the boy clenched his eyes shut and, fearing the worst, prays that he won’t do any dumb, sudden movements that might give away his position. Though that happening is unlikely, he’s not taking any chances.

The thumps continued menacingly, until it came to a sudden stop. He opened his eyes and let himself breath again, albeit only low and shallow ones. He perked his ears, trying to hear something that might give him an idea of where the creature is, but all he heard was the forest’s deafening silence. He tried harder, only to get the same results. Calming down, the boy considered his options.

To get up and search for the creature would mean certain death, but if he just sat here it would mean death for his friends, death for his teammates, death for his sister…

_Agh, why do I always end up doing stupid things?!_

Bracing himself, he slowly rose to his feet, careful not to step on any branches. He turned around, peeking from behind the tree that he was leaning on earlier. In an instant, his eyes went round as a button.

Standing about twenty meters away from him is the creature he was searching for. The Sethaur, an incredibly dangerous subspecies of the Manotaurs that he stupidly awakened from its long slumber. It’s almost twice the size of the largest Manotaur, sporting a dark red hide, curved demonic horns, bloodstained and razor-sharp claws and fangs, and a pair of pitch black and bloodthirsty eyes. Eyes that are sending the boy a murderous glare.

Dipper stood still, frozen in fear, as the Sethaur bared its fangs. It slowly approached, dragging its deadly claws on the ground.

_Oh, I am so fu-_

All of a sudden, a glowing orange energy hit the Sethaur square in the jaw. It whipped its head at the source of the energy, and so does Dipper. In the distance, Dipper spotted a certain hard-headed psychic, a hand outstretched and enveloped in an orange glow. He’s a mess; there are various cuts and tears on his outfit, he’s missing his left glove, half of his signature goggles is cracked, but most importantly, he looks _pissed_.

That usually means the psychic is about to do something stupid. For once, Dipper desperately wishes that he was wrong. But, when Raz launched himself at the Sethaur, Dipper cursed his luck.

With a hand fisted and glowing with psychic energy, Raz let out a battle cry as he flew straight at the monster. The Sethaur swung its massive claws, swatting Raz away as if he’s a mere fly. The psychic smashed through a tree and crashed harshly on the ground.

 _What is that idiot doing?!_ Dipper thought frantically. _He’s going to kill himself!_

 _Shut up!_ came an unexpected reply.

Dipper gritted his teeth at the psychic’s stubbornness. He watched as Raz slowly rose to his feet. He is clearly in pain; no one can survive that without breaking a bone or two, but the psychic stubbornly forced himself to face the Sethaur.

 _Raz, if you can hear me,_ Dipper thought, glaring at the psychic, hoping that it would somehow increase the chance that Raz can hear him, _you are going to die if you keep this up! Get out of there!_

Raz’s head straightened up, and Dipper took it as a signal that the psychic heard him. Raz tilted his head until he is facing the male half of the Pines twins that is standing several meters away from him, shooting Dipper a fierce glare.

 _I. Don’t. CARE!!_ With that mental statement, Raz turned back to the Sethaur, hands already glowing with psychic energy. He pointed it at the monster, shooting out an impressive psi-blast. The psi-blast sailed through the air, exploding square at the Sethaur’s chest.

Raz broke out a sadistic grin, but it quickly disappeared when the Sethaur shrugged the blast off as if it was nothing. The beast approached menacingly, sending Raz a murderous glare. The psychic remained unfazed, already showering the Sethaur with more psi-blasts. The beast simply shrugged it all off, continuing his approach.

Dipper knew he had to do something or the stubborn psychic is surely going to get himself killed. But he is almost out of chemicals, and the ones he has are not enough to even distract it, let alone harm it. He can’t create anything useful from the ones he has either.

 _Raz… please… stop pushing it…_ Dipper pleaded once again, now desperate. However, his mental plea fell on deaf ears; the goggled psychic still continued his futile attempt to harm the Sethaur.

The beast moved closer and closer, bearing what can be described as a murderous grin. Raz’s angered glare turned into a worried gaze, his feet starting to shake from exhaustion. Finally, with one final psi-blast with every ounce of brain strength he has left (which is not much at this point), Raz fell to his knees, clearly spent both physically and mentally.

The Sethaur loomed dangerously over Raz, staring the psychic down with its pitch black eyes. Raz weakly looked up, returning the stare with a defiant look. The creature raised a fisted claw, intending to crush the insect before it. The psychic, resigned to his fate, closed his eyes and raised his left arm, feebly glowing with an orange energy, as a final attempt to defend himself.

_Sorry, Lil…_

“No…” Dipper spoke, his voice barely a whisper. With an unearthly roar, the Sethaur brought its fist down. Dipper was about to close his eyes and turn away, however, his eyes went round when he saw what happened next.

Raz waited for the fist to come down and end his time in this world, but the moment never came. Instead, he felt some sort of pressure on his left palm. Curious and confused, he opened his eyes and looked up. When he did, he has never felt more surprised in all his life.

The Sethaur’s fist is blocked by a giant hand made out of orange, psychic energy, with streaks of psychic energy connecting it to Raz’s raised left arm. Everyone is astonished by this, even the Sethaur, who is struggling to release its fist from the energy hand’s grip.

Upon realizing that this was his doing, Raz shot the Sethaur a glare. Raz fisted his right arm, conjuring another energy hand floating behind him, fisted just like his. Still glaring murderously, Raz swung his right fist, and his right energy hand did the same, landing a hit right at the beast’s jaw.

The beast stumbled backwards. It stared wide-eyed at the furious psychic, unable to comprehend how such a puny creature can actually harm it. Suddenly refueled with energy, Raz let out a furious cry, pummeling the Sethaur with his energy hands. He was relentless in his beat down, landing rock-breaking punches in lightning-quick speed, not giving the creature even a moment to recover. In seconds, the hulking monster is reduced to nothing more than Raz’s personal punching bag.

Dipper stared slack-jawed a few meters away from the spectacle, until a realization came to him.

“No!” he exclaimed, wide-eyed in horror. “He’s gonna kill them!”

Dipper took off running, desperate to reach Raz before it’s too late. Meanwhile, the psychic has brought the Sethaur down to its knees. He clasped his fists together and raised it in what is sure to be a killing blow. The furious psychic brought his fists down; his energy fists doing the same, but just as the energy fists made contact, Dipper tackled Raz into the ground, causing Raz to lose his focus, the energy fists disappearing into thin air.

The Sethaur, seeing that his enemy is distracted, took the opportunity and ran away from the psychic. Raz recovered from the tackle and, noticing the beast’s retreat, frantically scrambled to his feet and shot several psi-blasts; all of them missing their target.

A nasty combination of emotions washed over Raz. A mixture of guilt, shame, and disappointment. Raz’s gaze shifted to the twelve-year old that’s still recovering from the tackle. In an instant, all those emotions are replaced with a pure, unrestrained rage.

An orange energy struck the ground just inches from Dipper’s face. He shrieked in surprise, jerking away from the impact site.

“YOU!” Raz snarled. Dipper turned his head, facing an unarguably pissed off psychic, hands glowing a dangerous orange. “I almost had him! I was _this_ close to killing it!”

Unfazed, Dipper got his feet under him. “For goodness sake, calm down, will ya?” Dipper said, tucking his journal back in his vest.

“Calm do- That thing ate _Lili_!” Raz spat, pointing at the direction the Sethaur went. “That oversized cow ate my _girlfriend_!”

“Well, newsflash, brainiac, that thing ate _all_ of our friends!” Dipper spat back. “And in case you didn’t realize; you going berserk back there might help it kill them faster!”

Raz showed a look of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I watched the whole thing, okay? They all got swallowed whole.” Dipper explained, the dreaded memories playing in his brain.

“And that’s supposed to be good news?!”

“Yes, it is. If they’re swallowed whole, that means they are still in one piece somewhere in that monster’s belly and it’ll still be a while before the thing’s digestive system got to them.” Dipper shot the psychic a glare. “Y’know, if that beat down didn’t break every bone in their body first.”

Raz looked down on the ground, looking reluctant. “Yeah, you should be ashamed.” Dipper spat.

“No… not that…” Raz muttered lowly.

Now, it’s Dipper’s turn to be confused. “What? What do you mean?” he inquired, but the psychic refused to speak. Instead, he stared solemnly at the ground.

“Raz, tell me.” Dipper pushed. Sighing, Raz finally relents.

“Psychonauts, when they become field agents and a partner is assigned to them, they are obligated to form an emergency link between you and your partner’s minds. Like some sort of backdoor to your partner’s mind.” Raz explained. However, his tone turned grim. “Lili and I have that link. It’s designed so that you can sense what your partner is doing, where she is, stuff like that. And most importantly, that link is designed to be always accessible to your partner no matter what, even if she is asleep or unconscious. There is only one way you can break that link.” the psychic shot Dipper a distraught gaze. “ _One_ way…”

Eyes round in horror, Dipper realized far too late what Raz is implying. “No…”

“I can’t sense her… I can’t sense her anymore…” Raz choked out, his voice shaking and his entire body trembling.

Dipper went pale, shivers running down his spine. He thought his theory was foolproof. He thought he only needed to somehow kill the Sethaur and free his friends trapped in its belly. In hindsight, his theory now sounds unlikely. Even if they did survive getting swallowed whole, he had no idea how fast the Sethaur’s digestive system is, so it is quite possible that Mabel and the others are…

Dipper shook his head, desperate to rid himself of the horrifying thought.

“That’s… that’s not true…” Dipper said, more to convince himself than to convince Raz.

“Dipper, this technique’s been around since the early days of Psychonauts.” Raz said, gulping to try and contain the tears welling up in his eyes. “It’s been proven.”

That sentence struck Dipper like a bolt of lightning. As a scientific person, he’s not one to ignore facts, no matter how desperately he wished that it’s untrue. “Mabel…”

They spent the next several minutes in a suffocating silence, each trying to hold back the tears and maintain their composure. Raz let himself sit on the ground, wrapping his arms around his knees and curling up into a ball. Dipper continued to stand on his spot even though his entire body is trembling, his positive side and his negative side arguing the possibility of his friends’ survival. The longer the argument become, the more painfully apparent it is that his negative side is winning.

During his mental argument, Dipper caught a glance of Raz’s eyes. Eyes that usually showed a confident gaze when the siren in their headquarters blared. Eyes that usually shot Dipper a mocking leer in a daily basis. Eyes that usually went round when Dipper proved him wrong. Those eyes are no more. It’s now replaced with lifeless ones, riddled with guilt, completely devoid of any trace of what it used to be.

It’s a truly sickening sight.

Dipper is in no position to comfort or encourage anyone, let alone a boy that just lost his girlfriend. But, seeing those eyes just feels… wrong. He knew he had to do something, anything, to fix that lifeless gaze.

Dipper knelt down in front of the psychic. “Raz…” he started, but he immediately stopped, not sure how he should continue.

After a few moments of silence, he finally continued. “If… if there is a way to save Lili and the others, would you take it?”

Raz lazily met Dipper’s gaze. “I told you, I can’t sense-“

“I said, IF. IF there is a way to save them, would you take it?”

Raz gave a solid nod. “In a heartbeat.”

“Good.” Dipper stood up, smiling. “Now, are we going to sit around and go emo or are we going to show that oversized cow what happens when you mess with the Mystery Kids?”

“Dipper, there’s no point. I _can’t_ sense her.” Raz replied.

Dipper bit his lip, trying to find the correct words to say. “Okay, I admit, it’s possible that the others are… gone,” a shiver ran down their spines as the word is spoken. Nevertheless, Dipper cleared his throat and continued. “But, it’s also possible that they’re still alive! We don’t know anything about the Sethaur! Even the journal barely has anything about it! For all we know, its skin might have psychic-blocking properties!”

“What if its skin _doesn’t_ have any special gimmick? What then?” Raz asked.

“Come on, Raz, this isn’t you! Don’t be this guy! Be the other guy!” Dipper exclaimed.

“What other guy?” Raz asked lowly.

“The guy that does triple backflips off the Shack’s roof! The guy that shoots psi-blasts and pyro blasts all over the place! And most importantly, the guy that _leads_ us.” Dipper knelt so that his eyes are level with Raz’s. “You’re our leader, Raz. If you give up, we all fall.”

Slowly, Raz lifted his head, meeting Dipper’s gaze. It is then Raz noticed something in the twelve-year old’s eyes. His eyes are red, filled with held-back tears. Beneath the guilt and anger, Raz felt a feeling of astonishment starting to form. Dipper is surely crushed with the possibility of his twin sister being… gone, yet here he is, trying to comfort the person he likes the least in the team. Next, came a feeling of shame. Even with psychic powers, he still ended up being the one that needs help.

With a deep breath, Raz regained himself.

“You’re right.” he stated. Dipper blinked, surprised that it worked.

Raz rubbed his teary eyes away and rose to his feet. “I’m the leader. I should start acting like one.” he spoke, a familiar air of confidence emanating from him. The psychic extended a hand towards Dipper. “But a leader is nothing without his crew.”

The surprised look on the twelve-year old turned into a proud smile. He accepted Raz’s hand. “And his crew will never abandon him, no matter what happens.”

“Thanks.” Raz said, letting out a little sheepish smile. “Looks like you stopped me from going to Gloomsville there.”

“Nah, you looked more like a person that would end up in Rage Town.” Dipper smirked, wiping away his own tears.

Raz laughed at the much needed joke. “Okay, smart guy, what’s our next move?”

The smirks disappeared from their features, replaced with a serious expression. “Okay, so far, the only thing we know can hurt it are those energy hands of yours.”

“But, if your theory is correct, beating him senseless is out of the question.”

“So, what we need is a single, lethal hit from your energy hands that does as little damage as possible to its body.” Dipper scoffed at his own idea. “Yeah, that’s not a tall order.”

“We’ve got taller orders before, right?” Raz grinned confidently.

Dipper nodded in agreement. “Still, this one’s taller than most.”

“You got that right. I mean, what’re we supposed to do? Punch his head off?”

Something clicked in Dipper’s head, his face visibly brightening. “That… might actually work.”

“Wait, what? Raz stared in disbelief. “Okay, wait, that was just me rambling.”

“But you got a point!” Dipper said, excitement in his eyes. “Punching his head off is exactly what we need! If his organs doesn’t have any funny gimmicks, punching his head off is gonna kill him with almost no damage to his body.”

“Oh, well then, punching his head off it is.” Raz said, still surprised that his off-handed mention is being taken seriously by Dipper. “Now, the question is…”

“…how the heck are we supposed to do that?” Dipper finished, putting a hand under his chin.

The two stood in silence, thinking hard to figure out how to decapitate a hulking half-man half-bull in a single punch. Definitely the weirdest brainstorming session either of them has ever been in.

“That thing is basically a walking pile of muscle…” Raz spoke.

“Yeah…” agreed Dipper.

“…but somehow all that muscle doesn’t stop it from being as quick as Neil when the ice cream van pulled up…”

“Uh huh…”

“…and he’s not dumb either…”

“Sure…”

“…and with those extra sensitive senses, there’s no way we can sneak up on him…”

“Raz, you’re not helping!” Dipper finally snapped.

“Well, how am I supposed to decapitate him in one punch?” Raz pointed out, while Dipper put his hand back under his chin. “Let’s face it; we’re practically stuck in a pit here.”

Again, the look on Dipper’s face suggested he had another moment of clarity. Raz eyed him warily. “I triggered something again, didn’t I?”

Dipper didn’t answer. Instead, he turned away from Raz, the small smile on his face slowly turning into a grin from ear to ear.

“Okay, I can sense some gears whirring in that big head of yours. Care to let me in on it?” Raz asked from behind Dipper.

Dipper turned back to face Raz, wearing a smile of both joy and mischief. The look piqued Raz’s curiosity, prompting him to take a step closer to Dipper. Meanwhile, the smile on the twelve-year old slowly shifted into a grin.

“Remember that Pit near the Shack?”

* * *

 

A crash echoed through the silent forest, followed by an unearthly roar. The Sethaur’s pitch black eyes scanned the area, looking for revenge against the insects that disturbed his slumber. Not finding anything, it uprooted another tree, sending another crash echoing through the forest.

As it searched, it is smart enough to try and spot the insect that can summon the giant hands. The one that almost finished it earlier. That insect must be avoided, it thought. Instead, it searched for the weaker insect.

Suddenly, it felt a painful sting on it right leg. It roared in pain, looking down on its feet to spot some sort of liquid sizzling painfully on its leg. The beast scanned the area, spotting a figure standing several feet away.

The weaker insect.

“Over here, you oversized cow! Come and get me!” With that, Dipper turned back on his heels and took off running, with the Sethaur in hot pursuit.

Dipper deftly maneuvered his way through the trees, ducking under branches and vaulting over tree stumps, gaining quite a distance from the Sethaur. Meanwhile, the creature simply plowed through the forest, knocking down trees and sending wooden debris flying at Dipper. Dipper yelped as a tree trunk impaled the ground right in front of him, knocking him backwards. He took a glance behind him and, spotting the Sethaur charging at him with a murderous glare, got his feet under him and took off running again.

However, that small tumble is more than enough for the Sethaur to catch up. The monster grew nearer and nearer; it’s practically breathing down Dipper’s neck by now. The beast stretched a claw at Dipper, stopping just inches away from the twelve-year old. Dipper frantically reaches for his belt, pulling out a vial filled with a green-colored liquid. He threw it at the ground behind him. The vial breaks, emitting a foul smell. The smell is a discomfort to humans, but to the extra sensitive senses of the Sethaur, the smell is unbearable. It tumbled back, swinging its arms wildly to get rid of the smell, allowing Dipper to create a huge gap between him and the monster.

Once the smell subsided, the Sethaur focused its pitch black eyes at the figure running in the distance. Angered, it let out a deafening roar.

Dipper took a quick glance at the pissed off monster, smirking.

* * *

 

“This is crazy, even for me.” Raz mumbled, staring down nervously at the gaping, dark, seemingly endless abyss.

Raz inched away from the Pit, moaning nervously and mumbling incoherent words. “Okay, calm down Raz.” he said, reassuring himself. “This is for them. For all of them.”

He turned back towards the Pit, positioning himself right at the edge. He eyed the tree line, anxiously waiting for the twelve-year old to emerge.

His breath is caught in his throat when an all-too familiar figure emerged from the tree line, running and panting heavily. Dipper nodded frantically, still running towards the psychic. Nodding back, Raz fisted his hands, summoning a pair of energy hands floating behind him. Taking a deep breath, Raz, with determination in his eyes, stepped into the Pit, fully disappearing into the abyss in moments.

Meanwhile, Dipper is still running. He circled the Pit, putting it between him and the tree line. He clutched his chest, panting heavily. Slowly, he regained his breath, anxiously eyeing the forest at all times.

With a thump, the Sethaur emerged from the forest, sending two tree trunks flying. They landed harmlessly several meters away from Dipper. The beast scanned the area, quickly spotting Dipper. It approached him menacingly, dragging its claws along the ground.

Instead of running away, Dipper stayed in place. To the monster’s surprise, he is actually _smirking_. “Y’know; eating my friends, especially my twin sister, not a very good idea.”

Though confused, the Sethaur continues his approach. Still smirking, Dipper spoke again. “I mean, what’ve we ever done to you? Ruin your beauty sleep?”

The Sethaur grew dangerously nearer, yet the boy doesn’t show even the slightest bit of fear. “Doesn’t matter though; the only thing that’s gonna come out of this is a brand new head hanging over my fireplace.”

Dipper shaped his hand into a gun and pointed it at the Sethaur’s head, who is just a few feet away now. “In three…”

The Sethaur moved closer, until all that separates Dipper from the monster is just the Pit, exactly how Dipper wanted it. “…two…”

The Sethaur leaned forward, glaring the boy down with its completely black eyes. Dipper simply returned it with a smug grin. “…one…”

“…boom.”

A figure shoots out of the Pit faster than the eye can see. The Sethaur tumbled backwards, taking wobbly steps backwards, before finally falling flat on its back. Its severed head landed a few feet away just moments after.

Calmly, Dipper circled the Pit and approached the once-dangerous creature, now just a dead corpse. “And that’s why…”

From the sky, Raz landed right next to Dipper, his energy hands dissipating into thin air. “…you never mess…” Raz continued.

“… _with the Mystery Kids_.” the two finished together, standing triumphant beside the fallen beast.

They stood in silence for a few minutes, reveling in their victory. Suddenly, they noticed something bulging out of the Sethaur’s stomach, like something trying to get out. An object suddenly shot out of the beast’s belly and landed inches away from their feet. An object they recognized all-too well.

Mabel’s grappling hook.

Seconds later, the object’s owner bursts out. “Yes, fresh air!” Mabel exclaimed, covered in blood and other stomach fluids. A bright smile appeared on Dipper’s face, silent tears of joy streaking down his face.

Mabel jumped off of the corpse, only to be greeted by a hug from her twin brother. “Bro, you’re getting stomach-y fluids all over yourself!” she said.

“I don’t care.” Dipper chuckled, holding his twin tighter. Smiling warmly, Mabel returned the hug.

One by one, each of the Mystery Kids emerged out of the hole that Mabel made. First, Norman came out, followed by Aggie, then Coraline, then Neil, then Wybie, until Lili came out last. The brightest smile formed on Raz’s features once that happened.

Lili stepped off of the creature, where her boyfriend enveloped her in a hug.

“God, I’m glad you’re okay! When you got eaten, I-I can’t sense you o-or send any telepathic messages… I-I thought you were a goner… I honestly do… I can’t believe I let you get eaten in the first place! I mean, I’m your boyfriend! I was supposed to never let that happen! I mean, I-I-“

Lili gently put a finger on Raz’s lips. “Raz?”

“Yeah?”

“Just shut up and kiss me.”

Raz chuckled, and the psychic couple kissed passionately. Raz put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer, mentally swearing to never let her go. The two eventually broke off the kiss, sharing a goofy smile with each other.

As the heartwarming scenes unfolded, Coraline curiously stared at the Sethaur’s decapitated corpse. “What happened to this guy?” she asked.

“It’s a long story, but what’s important is Raz and I beat him. Together.” Dipper answered, breaking off from Mabel to stand next to Raz.

“Wait a minute, did I hear that right?” Coraline asked, surprised. “You two actually worked together?”

“I admit, it was pretty rocky at first,” Raz said, “but we managed to work it out.” The others stared in awe at the duo.

“Besides,” Dipper spoke, “I think we all learned a valuable lesson today.”

“Really? And what’s that?” Coraline asked, raising a brow.

Dipper and Raz shared a quick smirk, before they answered.

“Don’t mess with the Mystery Kids.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, that's a bit of a mood whiplash from the last chapter, eh? What can I say, some monster hunts just goes smoother than others. Also, keep Raz's psi-fists in mind. They kinda become his main weapon in the story.
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreaciated!!
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to mention that the extremely talented dragonfangz made a short comic for this chapter. Go check it out here: http://dragonfangz.tumblr.com/post/110481266559/for-chronicler-of-legends-a-snipet-from-dont


	3. The Part Where I Come In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Kids encounter their most enigmatic... adversary(?) yet.

**Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs**

**The Part Where I Come In**

“Psycho One, this is Alpha Blue, do you copy? Over.” Coraline spoke to the earpiece.

 **“** Loud and clear, Alpha Blue. Over.” A male voice replied through the earpiece.

“Do you have eyes on the target? Over.” Coraline asked.

“Negative. No visual sight or mental sight. Over.” the voice replied.

Coraline groaned. “Can you two actually do this? It’s been over an hour.”

“Hey, this thing is not easy, y’know.” A different voice spoke through the earpiece, a female one this time. “We only have a one second psychic lock on this guy’s brainwave. Even the best psi-trackers needs at least four seconds to get a proper lock.”

“Easy there, Psycho Two.” the male voice spoke. “Point is, we’re working with what we have, which is not much.”

Coraline sighed. “Fine. Status update in fifteen minutes. Radio silence till then. Over.”

“Will do, Alpha Blue. Psycho One, out.” the male voice said before going silent.

“Psycho Two, out.” the female voice mimicked, before going silent as well.

Disappointed, Coraline walked back to the center of the forest clearing, where the rest of her friends have gathered. One of her friends, a dark-skinned hunchbacked boy, noticed her approaching.

“Anything?” the boy asked.

“Nah, psycho couple hasn’t found anything.” Coraline replied, putting her hands on her hips. She sighed. “The tension is killing me.”

“Tell me about it.” Another one of her friends, a boy with his signature pine tree hat, scoffed. “Breaking our surveillance cams, leaving creepy notes in our lockers, tampering with our hunting equipments; this guy, if it is a guy, is practically messing with us.”

“We’ve never had this much problem with any supernatural creatures before.” a boy, whose hair seems to defy gravity, spoke. “This guy is aware that we’re here and we’re looking for him, and I think he’s mocking us for it.”

“Wybie, you sure that trap’s gonna work?” Coraline asked, looking doubtful.

“Of course, I just triple-checked it.” Wybie replied, growing irritated. “There is no way I’m going to let that guy get away after what he did to my bike.”

“Just making sure. Your gadgets have a tendency to blow up at the worst possible moment.” Coraline teased, snickering.

Wybie showed a dead-serious look. “Trust me, this will work.”

“So,” Dipper spoke, “looks like another round of suspenseful waiting for us, huh?” Reluctantly, Coraline nodded.

Fortunately for them, the wait only lasted for five minutes. A voice screamed through the intercom, surprising them all. ”Target is on the move! I repeat, target is heading to the trap! Get to your positions, this guy is crazy fast!”

For a second, they simply looked around frantically, momentarily forgetting what they are supposed to do. A second later, it all comes back to them, and they hurriedly moved to their positions. They dived to the bushes, Wybie carrying the trigger for the trap.

A few tense minutes passed, with the Kids almost breathlessly crouching under the bushes, anxiously waiting for their target to appear. Their eyes scanned the edges of the clearing, looking for any sign of him. A rustle in the bushes caught their attention, their breaths caught in their throats. A figure shot out of the bushes, dashing through the clearing at an unbelievable speed.

Reacting quickly, Wybie pressed the trigger, activating the trap. A set of steel bars rose from the ground right in the figure’s path. Caught by surprise, the figure didn’t react quick enough to avoid the bars, crashing straight at it. Another set of steel bars rose behind the figure, surprising the figure again. Two more set of steel bars rose on the figure’s left and right, blocking all of his escape route. Lastly, a steel plate dropped from the treetops, effectively trapping him in a cage.

Seeing his trap worked, Wybie let out an overjoyed smile. “Yes!” he exclaimed, jumping out of his hiding spot. Grinning, Wybie began approaching the caged figure.

One by one, the Kids emerged from the bushes and approached the figure, a mixture of satisfaction, curiosity, pride and relief inside them. Raz and Lili emerged from the forest, relief washing over them once they saw the figure trapped in the cage.

“Good to know all that planning didn’t go into waste.” Raz said, stepping closer to the cage.

“Not to mention the coffee and sleepless nights.” Lili added, following her boyfriend.

The Mystery Kids closed in on the cage, getting a good look on the figure for the very first time. Frankly, they didn’t quite expect the figure’s appearance. Like they expected, the figure is male, but what they didn’t expect is that the figure is just a teenager, looking maybe only eighteen years old. He’s wearing a hooded jacket zipped halfway up colored black and white, completely black on the right half and completely white on the left half. Underneath, he’s wearing a plain white shirt. He’s wearing grey jeans reaching all the way down to his ankle and black sneakers. All of his clothes look worn, with various cuts, tears, and stains adorning it. A hood covers most of his face, with only his nose and mouth visible.

However, the most unexpected thing about the teen is his reaction. He didn’t show any sign of alarm or panic at all. Instead, he simply tucked his hands inside his jacket’s pocket and wore an almost mocking smile. That gesture, although simple, is enough to unnerve the Kids with its calmness.

Coraline, not one to be intimated easily, took a step forward and wore a mocking smile of her own. “Impressed?” she mocked.

The teen took a glance at the blue haired girl. He chuckled lightly, “A little bit, I admit.”

The Kids warily eyed him as he walked around his cage, inspecting the bars imprisoning him. “Although, I guess it was partly my fault too.” He spoke, tapping the steel bars, “Raz going on a blasting frenzy is normal, but I should’ve figured something was up when Lili joined in.”

The Mystery Kids stared at the teen in shock. Everyone, even Coraline, took a collective step back.

“H-How did you know our names?” Lili asked, holding Raz’s hand.

The hooded teen turned to face the psychic couple, an unnervingly calm smile on his face. “That’s private, Agent Lilianna Zanotto. You, Razputin, and all the other Psychonauts out there should learn a thing or two about that.”

Gritting his teeth, Raz put himself between the teen and Lili. “Answer her,” he threatened, pointing a hand glowing with psychic energy, “how did you know our names?”

The teen simply grinned, and a very annoying one at that. “Gee, you’re more of a hothead than usual today, Aquato. You should cool off at the pool sometimes.”

Although taken aback for a second, Raz quickly shot him an intense glare, his hand glowing brighter. “Don’t make me repeat myself.” He threatened.

“What? A little dip never hurts anyone.” the teen raised his hands innocently, but the ever-present mocking smile on his face made it clear that the gesture is false.

Furious, Raz prepared his most powerful psi-blast. “Raz!” Coraline scolded, knocking the psychic out of his rage. Slowly, he lowered his hand, glaring at the teen the entire time.

With the situation diffused somewhat, Coraline turned her attention back to the teen. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t tell us now.” She spoke, her tone threatening. “You’ll tell us eventually. You’re not going anywhere till you do.”

“Correction; you _think_ I’m not going anywhere.” The teen smiled.

“Oh, really?” Coraline asked, a brow raised. She knew it was just a bluff. Thanks to Raz and Lili’s Psychonaut connections, the metal used for the cage is the same one used for a tank. Even a Manotaur would have trouble breaking out of that cage.

The teen chuckled. “Doll face, if you _think_ catching me is going to be that easy,” he raised his right hand, “ _think again_.”

A finger snap echoed through the silent forest. In an instant, the smug look Coraline wore turned into a dumbfounded one. She whipped her head around, trying to understand exactly what just happened.

“I guess it’s a bit snug,” the teen spoke from the spot she once stood, “but you should blame Wybie for that.”

Coraline and the others couldn’t believe what just happened. Heck, they are not even sure exactly what just happened. Somehow, they are all stuffed inside the cage, while the teen stood outside the cage, hands in his pocket and a mischievous smile on his features. The teen just turned the tables on the situation in a literal blink of an eye.

“What the-“ Coraline mouthed, holding the bars in disbelief. The others have a similar reaction, whipping their heads around in panic, staring at the bars with a look of utter bewilderment. Meanwhile, the hooded teenager silently observed their confusion with an amused smile.

“Having fun in there?” he mocked, circling the cage. Meanwhile, the Kids have calmed down a little, though they are by no means less confused. They all stood on the cage’s edge, warily watching the teen as he circled the cage. Even if his eyes are covered by his hood, the Kids can feel it giving them a condescending gaze.

He stopped in front of Raz, who is giving him a hateful glare. He showed a sinister smile, “Heard most of your family went for a swim.”

That was it. That was Raz’s line, and that annoying smug-face just crossed it. He pulled a hand back, glowing with psychic energy. Quickly, the teen snapped his fingers. Raz’s fist collided with the steel bars, resulting in a loud clang. The psychic recoiled back, clutching his fist in pain.

“Wha- How…?” he said almost inaudibly, staring at his fist dumbfounded. The orange glow surrounding it is gone, and no matter how hard he tried, he can’t bring it back. He, along with the others, stared at the teen in horror. The seemingly ordinary teenager just disabled his psychic powers, all with just a snap of his fingers.

The teen answered their horrified looks with a chilling grin.

Dipper, who is standing right next to Raz, stared back and forth between the psychic and the teen. “What did you do to him?” he asked, concerned.

The teen turned his attention towards Dipper. He took a step closer towards the twelve year old, that chilling expression still present. Although unnerved, Dipper stood his ground. “I said, what did you do to him?” he asked again.

After a silence that seems to last for hours, the teen removed the chilling look, going back to a calm smile, much to Dipper’s relief. However, that relief is not going to last long. “A curious one aren’t you, pine tree?”

Dipper’s eyes widened. “What did you just call me?”

The teen didn’t answer. Instead, he took a step back, chuckling all the while. “You should keep that curiosity of yours on a leash, Dipper.” He took a glance over Dipper’s shoulder, “I spy with my little eye, a bright star in the sky, and if there’s untamed curiosity in your eye, the star in the sky might just _die_.”

Dipper followed the teenager’s gaze and, to his horror, spotted his twin sister. Mabel looked at his brother, looking as horrified as he is. Dipper turned back to the teen, anger and determination in his eyes. “Over my dead body.” he snarled, putting himself between Mabel and the teen.

The teen laughed heartily. “Now, that is just adorable, don’t you guys _think_?”

None of them reacted. The Mystery Kids still has a wary eye on him, while Dipper maintained his glare. “Well, you guys are no fun.” the teen grumbled, his face showing a childish pout.

“Anyways, a bit of advice to you, kid.” the teen spoke, continuing his circle, “Don’t make deals with devils.”

Dipper stared at the teen as he continued circling the cage, unnerved by his ‘advice’. More unnervingly, as he went through a list of devilish creatures in his head, one in particular stood out as someone that would try and make a deal. Dipper is not fond of that probability _at all_.

The teen continued circling the cage, the Kids feeling the gaze of his covered eyes. As he passed Mabel, he flashed her a grin, “Don’t flicker out just yet.”

Mabel backed away from the teen, holding on to her twin brother for comfort. A low chuckle escaped the teen at the sight.

Minutes passed in an intense silence after that, the only sound coming from the teen’s footsteps. Several minutes later, he came to an abrupt stop. The chilling grin returned to his features, somehow more unnerving than the last one.

Norman gulped, feeling that the grin is meant for him. Aggie and Neil hid behind him, peeking over Norman’s shoulders with a wary gaze.

“So, ghost boy,” the teen started, stepping closer to the cage, “I’m honestly curious, what’s it like to see dead people?”

A shiver went down the medium’s spine. The hooded teen somehow knew _that_ too. “Y-You… _knew_?!”

“Aw, c’mon Norman. At this point, you shouldn’t be surprised anymore.” The teen grinned. Norman warily backs away from the teen as he grows closer.

“Now, while your buddies might know that you can see ghosts,” he spoke, sticking his head through the metal bars. What he said next is a whisper, just loud enough for Norman to hear, “You and _I both know what you are really capable of.”_

Norman paled, a look of pure horror on his face. He tried to get as far away as possible from the grinning teen, only to be stopped by the metal bars of the cage. Not able to back away any further, Norman trembled at the teen’s disturbing grin. He let himself fall to the ground, his feet growing too weak to support himself. He put his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around it, shaking and shivering with a terrified look on his face.

The Kids are equally disturbed by this. To see Norman, of all people, to suddenly have a mental breakdown with just a few words puts the hooded teen in a new, _terrifying_ light. Nevertheless, Aggie and Neil came to Norman’s side, trying to comfort their friend.

“A-Are you okay, Norman?” Aggie asked. The boy didn’t respond, the terrified look still on his face.

“What did you say to him?” Neil asked, turning to face the teen. To his surprise, the grin on the teen’s features turned into a disgusted scowl.

“Blegh, the load.” he spat, “I’m not gonna waste my time talking to _you_.”

Neil rose to his feet, clearly insulted by the statement, “I’m not-“

“Shut it, flesh pile.” the teen interrupted, pointing a threatening finger at Neil. After seeing what he can do so far, Neil kept his mouth clenched shut.

The teen shifted his focus to the girl kneeling next to Norman. “Now that is someone that I can talk to.” he said, catching the girl’s attention.

Aggie whipped her head at the teen, a fierce glare on her face. “Stay away.” she threatened.

“The oh-so-innocent li’l Agatha Prenderghast.” the teen said, replying Aggie’s glare with a calm smile. However, the smile slowly shifted into a somewhat disappointed look. “You are so selfish, aren’t you?”

“S-Selfish?” Aggie spoke, confused, “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you know? She misses you.” he answered, smiling somewhat solemnly.

“She misses me? Who misses-“ Aggie stopped, her eyes widening in realization. She left Norman’s side, scrambling frantically towards the teen. “ _Mom_?!” she shrieked, “You know my _mom_?!”

The teen didn’t answer. Instead, he backed away from the cage, his smile turning into a mischievous one. “Please, how is she? Is she okay? How did you know her?” Aggie asked, her eyes pleading for an answer.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself? All you need is a piece of rope and a tall tree.” the teen replied, grinning.  Aggie took a step back in horror, her hands subconsciously reaching for her neck.

Seeing her reaction, the teen broke down _laughing_. “Man, you guys are WAY to fun!!” he exclaimed cheerfully, earning disturbed looks from the Kids. “I can do this, literally, all day long!”

“Well, we’re not planning to be the plaything of a psycho hoodie for the rest of the day.” Coraline said, her teeth gritted.

“Me, a _psycho_?” the teen gasped, dramatically putting a hand to his chest in an obvious mock-shock. “I’m _hurt_ , Jonesy.”

“Trust me, there’s some actual hurt reserved just for you when we get out of here.” the blue-haired girl threatened.

“Out of a cage made from tank steel?” the teen chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“Look, just what do you want with us?” Wybie asked, growing frustrated.

“Oh, I don’t want anything.” the teen said, “You Kids got a pretty interesting story going on so far. This is just the part where I come in.”

“Matter of fact,” the teen continued, “I might have some very useful heads-up for you, Kids.”

“About what?” Coraline said, understandably skeptical of the idea.

“About how your story is gonna go down, duh.” he spoke nonchalantly.

“What do you know about that?” Dipper asked, a skeptical look on his face.

“Oh, a _lot_.” the teen flashed a wicked smile, “Trust me, things are getting crazy-trippy in this story of yours.”

 “Why should we trust you? You’re just a guy that locked us up in this cage… somehow.” Dipper pointed out.

“Good point there, Dipper.” the teen chuckled lowly. “And honestly, I got nothing.”

“There is absolutely no reason why you should trust me, and there is nothing I can do to make you believe in what I say.” the teen’s smile grew a tad bigger, “But just because you don’t believe in it, doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

“And why should we trust that too?” Dipper spat, giving him a skeptical glare.

In response, the teen chuckled, “You’re clever all the way, kiddo.”

“Welp, I’m afraid that’s all the screen time I get for this chapter.” the teen stated, staring at an imaginary watch on his wrist. He turned away from the Kids, walking away into the woods, saying, “Looking forward to see you Kids again in the future.”

The Kids watched as the hooded teenager walked away from them, a silent relief building up inside them as the teen grew farther.

Almost all of them.

“Wait!” a voice called out, stopping the teenager. The Kids whipped their heads at the source of the voice. The twelve year old boy stood in the center of the cage, wearing a dead-curious look on his face.

“Who are you?” Dipper asked, narrowing his eyes at the teen.

The teen smiled, though it’s not visible to the Kids. “Name’s Vale.” he answered, not bothering to look back. “You Kids better get used to this guy. You’ll be seeing a lot more of this psycho hoodie.”

The teenager, now known as Vale, continued his walk. He disappeared into the forest, his departure as abrupt as his arrival. Moments passed in silence, each of the Kids fixed on the spot where Vale left their line of sight. A sudden finger snap echoed through the silent forest, startling them. What’s even more startling is that the cage surrounding them disappeared in a blink of an eye. The Kids whipped their heads around; grateful that they are freed, but confused on how Vale made the cage simply vanish into thin air.

Once the confusion died down, the Kids checked up on each other after the encounter.

Much to his and Lili’s relief, Raz managed to return the orange glow back to his hands. “Oh, thank god…” he said, chuckling in relief.

Wybie checked the ground where the cage is deployed, finding that the equipment used to deploy the bars somehow looks like it has never been activated. “How the heck…” he spoke, baffled.

Aggie returned to Norman, who is still curled up on the ground. “Norman, are you-“

“I’m fine.” the spiky-haired boy replied, far too quickly for it to be true. He shot a glance at the spot where Vale disappeared, his expression being a mix of terror and curiosity. “I’m fine…”

“Vale…” Coraline muttered, the only one to keep her gaze fixed all this time on the spot where he left. “Who _is_ that guy?”

“Forget that,” Dipper spoke, positioning himself next to Coraline, eyes focused on the same spot as hers, “ _what_ is that guy?”

* * *

 

“You think _you_ can take him away from _me_?”

“I _will_ take him away from you.”

“You idiot, he’s _meant_ to belong to me.”

“You _don’t_ know that.”

“Yes, I _do_ , and you know it too. His fate, their fate, is already set in stone.”

“Then I’ll just carve out a _new_ one for them. For all of them.”

“I’d _love_ to see you try.”

“In that case, it will be the most _horrifying_ thing you’ll ever see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was the first of many appearances by my OC, Vale! I got a really cool backstory fleshed out for him so I hope you guys like him so far! Also, sorry this chapter took a while to upload. My PC crashed for some reason so I haven't been online at all these last few days.
> 
> Also, check out this pic of Vale made by my extremely talented good friend panskeletonual: http://chronicler-of-legends.tumblr.com/post/106963661479/ohmygod-look-at-him-thats-so-badass-and-mysterious
> 
> Also also, dragonfangz made another short comic for this chapter. Check it out here: http://dragonfangz.tumblr.com/post/114322526629/for-chronicler-of-legends-and-a-snipet-from-the
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated!!


	4. Little Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lili decides to take a walk through the woods when she ran into a girl centuries away from her time. Adorableness ensues.

**Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs**

**Little Ghost**

“Finally, some peace and quiet.” Lili said, leaning back against a tree trunk. She let out a content sigh, glad that she was able to escape the madhouse that is the Mystery Shack and away from her boastful boyfriend.

She just returned from another successful hunt where Raz’s newly-discovered energy hands helped out big time once again. And once again, when they got back, that goggled Psychonaut _just won’t stop bragging about it_. Eventually, his bragging got on everyone’s nerves and Coraline personally told him to stop talking or, in her own words, she’ll ‘do unspeakable, horrifying and immoral actions to you’. That managed to shut him up.

Until he started to pester everyone telepathically. Under different circumstances, Lili would have praised Raz for finding that loophole. But, after fending off giant versions of a variety of insects, she was having none of that and stormed out of the Shack. She kept on walking and walking until she is well in deep in the forest. Only then that the psychic girl allowed herself to relax.

She took slow, deep breaths, fully enjoying the silent melody of the forest. She would’ve closed her eyes and took a nap right then and there, if not for the stunning scenery before her. The sun is starting to set, bathing the Gravity Falls forest in a magnificent orange. Woodland creatures ran around in-between the trees and birds flew overhead, all seeking to reach the comfort of their nests before the dark sets in.

Smiling at the breathtaking sight, she leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes, listening to the forest’s symphony. The pitter patter of the forest critters sounding almost like a light drum beat. The whoosh of breeze sound like a gentle strumming of the violin. The branches creaking in between complete the natural orchestra.

 _Wait a minute,_ Lili thought, perking her ears, _that is an actual violin playing._

She opened her eyes and looked around, finding no one around. But, at the same time, she is certain that her mind isn’t playing tricks on her. Lili’s eyes widened. There it is again, the strumming of a violin, ever so faint coming from the distance.

Curious, Lili followed the music to its source, almost entranced by the melody. The music gradually becomes louder and clearer, meaning that she is going the right direction. She also noticed that she has never heard of the music that is playing. It doesn’t sound anything like Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, or any other famous composers, but it sounds just as good as the pieces they composed. 

Wandering through the forest, she eventually reached a cliff overlooking an abandoned train track. There, a figure sat on a stone, holding a violin and playing the beautiful piece. Lili got closer to the figure, a hand glowing with psychic energy just in case. Once she got close enough, the psychic recognized the figure instantly.

“Aggie?”                                                                                                           

At the mention of her name, the girl turned to face the psychic.

“Lili?”

The two simply stared at each other for a few moments, surprised to see each other this deep in the woods.

“What are you doing here?” Lili broke the silence.

“I can say the same for you.” Aggie replied.

Neither of them spoke after that. Certain that both of them won’t be talking anytime soon, Lili turned her gaze away from Aggie and walked towards the edge of the cliff. She sat down and focused her gaze on the golden sunset, her feet dangling freely off the cliff. Meanwhile, Aggie, who awkwardly kept her gaze on Lili all this time, set her violin down and stared at the sunset as well.

The two silently watched as the sun slowly began to hide over the horizon, bathing them in the last warm lights of the day. The two did their best to not look at each other, ignoring the feeling that you get when someone is beside you. However, their attempt to disregard each other simply resulted in a suffocating, uncomfortable, and awkward silence.

Eventually, one of them decided to break the ice.

“I never knew you could play the violin.” Lili spoke, however her gaze remained on the sunset.

While slightly caught off-guard, Aggie quickly smiled. “Well, I suppose I never played it in front of any of you.” She said.

“Where’d you learn to play?” Lili asked, casting a quick glance.

“From my mom.” Aggie replied. “She used to play on this really big one. It was way too big for me, so she taught me how to play the small one.”

Aggie smiled fondly. “She would play for me everytime I ask her. When I had really bad nightmares, she would bring that huge violin to my room and played it for me until I go back to sleep.”

Lili can’t help but feel envious of the Puritan girl, to have a mother that loves her with every fiber of her being.

“I’m curious, what was the piece you just played? I never heard of it before.” Lili quickly asked another question, not wanting for the silence to return.

“It was my favorite song. I asked my mom to play it for me all the time.” Aggie replied, smiling into the sunset. “She played that song so many times, she once asked me how I’m not getting tired of it.”

“Your favorite never gets old.” Lili said, her lips curled into a small smile. “Plus, it’s really beautiful. Your mom must’ve been really talented.”

“Yeah…” Aggie murmured, her mind going back to days she spent with her mom. She remembered every single detail of those days. The peaceful summer afternoons, the warm gentle breezes, the wondrous stories her mom would tell while she sat on her lap. Sometimes, they would just stay under that tree for a whole day, not going back to the village until the sun is almost setting. It was like their perfect little paradise. Until those horrible men came and-

Aggie quickly snapped out of her trance, shaking off the painful memory. She looked down and, to her horror, found that her hands are already glowing yellow. She frantically reached for the pocket of her dress, quickly pulling and putting on a pair of leather gloves. With her hands covered, Aggie began to calm down, her breathing slowing down to a normal pace.

However, she realized that someone was watching her this whole time. Lili watched her whole ordeal, from her nostalgic smile, to her split-second of rage, to her moment of sudden panic. The Puritan girl looked down on her feet, embarrassed.

“You’re still having control issues?” Lili slowly spoke, carefully choosing her words.

“…yeah.” Aggie replied, avoiding Lili’s gaze.

“Uh… relax, you’ll… get the hang of it someday.” Lili said, awkwardly trying to encourage the girl.

“That day seems like a far off one.” Aggie frowned, gazing down to her feet.  

“Aggie, you were an angry, unpredictable, bolt-spamming specter for about three centuries. These things take time.” Lili said in a nonchalant tone.

A second later, the psychic girl realized the severity of her words. “Oh god, I can’t believe I just-“ she gave Aggie a guilty look, “I-I didn’t mean to- I’m really sorry. It just… slipped out of my mouth.”

“It’s okay, Lili.” Aggie said, to Lili’s relief. However, a mischievous glint appeared on the Puritan’s eyes. “Looks like I’m not the only one with control issues.”

“Well, would you look at that; turns out li’l miss innocent can crack a joke after all.” Lili responded, an amused smile on her features. Aggie let out a small chuckle, both girls feeling the mood brightening again.

A few moments later, Lili came upon a sudden realization.

“Y-You’re right…” Lili said, drawing a confused look from Aggie. “I do have control issues! I mean, I used to…” Lili promptly explained.

She turned to face Aggie and, slightly nervous, said, “You know, I can give you some pointers, if you like.”

Aggie smiled brightly at the offer. “That would be amazing, Lili! Thanks!”

“Okay then.” Lili said, getting up and seating herself next to Aggie.  “I don’t know if psychic powers are the same as ghost lightning powers, but I’ll tell you everything I know.”

Aggie nodded, prompting Lili to continue. “First off, if you think ‘control’ means ‘constantly suppressing your powers and never, under any circumstances, ever use it’, then you’re dead wrong.”

“Y-You’re saying I should… use it?” Aggie choked out, unnerved by the idea.

“Well, yeah. Controlling your powers means knowing when and where it should be used. That means not using your powers at all is bad too.” Lili explained.

“I… I’m not sure about that…” Aggie said lowly, casting her gaze downwards.

Lili looked at her thoughtfully as a plan began to form in her head. It’s risky, but the payoff is worth it. “Give me your hand.” Lili asked.

Aggie halfheartedly gave her a leather-clad hand. Lili quickly took off Aggie’s leather glove, not giving her time to react, revealing her pale white hand still crackling with electricity.

“Wha- What are you-?!” Aggie’s eyes widened in shock.

“It’s okay, calm down.” Lili gave her a reassuring smile. “Now, when do you think it’s a bad time to use your powers?”

“Uh… when I’m taking some water from the well?”

Lili nodded. Not what she was expecting, but she’s got a point. “Yeah, I guess that would be bad. What else?”

“Um… when I’m around you guys, I guess…”

Lili smiled. Now this is the direction she wanted. “Okay, and why is that a bad time?”

“Because I might just hurt you guys. I don’t ever want to hurt my friends.”

A warm feeling envelops Lili’s chest at Aggie’s words, but she has to continue on. “That’s a really sweet reason. Do I count as your friend?”

Aggie raised her head to meet Lili’s gaze. “Of course you are.”

“Then you won’t hurt me if I hold your hand, right?” A surprised expression came across her face at the question. Before she knew it, Lili’s hand is already hovering above hers, dangerously close to the crackling lightning.

“What are you doing?!” Aggie shrieked.

“I’m just testing to see if you _really_ don’t want to hurt your friends.” Lili nonchalantly replied.

“Is this really the best way to do that?!” Aggie asked back, trying to pull her hand away, but it is held still by Lili’s other hand.

“Come on, you can do this, Aggie. Trust me, just focus on what you want. Or, maybe in this case, what you don’t want.”

Aggie looked hesitant for a moment, but eventually, she nodded slowly.

“Good.” Lili smiled. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Aggie took a deep breath and closed her eyes, clearing her thoughts, focusing it only on her open palm and on her desire to leave her friends unharmed.

_I am not an angry ghost anymore, my friends calmed me down. I am not a lonely girl anymore; my friends will always be there for me. They changed me, they helped me. I will never hurt them, and nothing can make me._

“I’m ready.” she spoke, keeping her eyes shut.

“Okay.” Lili nodded in reply. Unseen by Aggie, a look of uncertainty flashed across Lili’s face. If what Norman described was true, then she really doesn’t want a taste of Aggie’s bolts. However, she chose to believe in her friend’s capabilities, and that look quickly disappears.

“In three…” Lili slowly lowered her hand, the electricity already tingling her palm.

_They changed me_

“Two…” Both girls held their breath as Lili’s hand grew closer.

_They helped me_

“One…” Aggie clenched her eyes as tightly as possible, focusing on her hand with all her might.

_I will NEVER hurt them, and NOTHING can make me!_

She gasps out in shock, eyes wide as she breathed again. She is in disbelief as she felt something warm enveloping her hand. She slowly looked up, and she met the most unbelievable sight.

Lili’s hand tenderly wrapped around her own, the crackling bolts ceased from her palm, and not even the slightest cut on the purple-haired girl’s hand.

Aggie stared dumbfounded at the intertwined fingers for a few moments, before finally breaking down in a chuckle of relief.

“See? I knew you could do it.” Lili smiled, glad that Aggie managed to control her powers, and also glad that her hand didn’t get fried. “Now, the next step.”

Aggie’s chuckle came to an abrupt stop, the worried gaze returning to her features. “I-I have to… _use_ it?”

“Of course. Controlling it means you have to use it too.” Lili said.

“But, all this power can do is hurt people. What if I hurt you? Or the others?” Aggie returned her gaze to the ground. “This power is _evil_.”

“Aggie, there’s no such thing as an evil power.” Lili rested her hand on Aggie’s shoulder. “It all comes down to the person who has it. And last I checked, you’re a pretty okay person.”

“But how am I supposed to use _these_ for good?” Aggie gazed upon her pale hands.

“Well, take fire for example.” Lili conjured a fireball on her palm. “Sure, it can bring down a whole town overnight, and can cause one of the most agonizing and painful death known to man,” the fireball began to intensify and grow in size, causing Aggie to flinch and inch away.

“But,” she flicked her hand and the flame spread upwards, creating a beautiful tree-like shape, with flames shaped like branches and leaves. Aggie stared at the awing sight before her. The fire tree dissipated moments after, leaving Aggie at a loss of words. Her gaze shifted to Lili, who replied with a smile, “under my control, fire can be an amazing thing.”

“That was really amazing, but our powers aren’t the same.” Aggie said.

“That may be true, but there is one thing we both have.” Lili said, looking at Aggie straight in the eye. “A choice. We can choose whether to use our powers to hurt people, or to protect people.”

Aggie pondered upon those words. “To protect?”

“Yeah, with all the increasingly creepy creepiness we face daily, we need all the protection we can get.” Lili smiled dryly.

The Puritan girl chuckled, her face brightening. “I guess you’re right.  It doesn’t matter what my powers are, as long as I do it for good.”

She took a deep breath, “Okay, I’m gonna try.”

“Whenever you’re ready.” Lili scooted away from Aggie, giving her some space.

Aggie wasted no time in starting her attempt. She stared at her hand, focusing her mind on her pale white fingers. A yellow glow emanated from her palm, and before long, the tiniest of sparks began to form. The tiny sparks slowly intensifies, until eventually both of her hands are covered by crackling lightning. The electricity continued to grow, with stray bolts starting to shoot out of the girl’s fingers. A panicked look flashed across her face as the electricity began to grow out of control, but it is quickly replaced by a look of determination. She closed her palm, and in an instant, the electricity ceased, her hand returning to its regular pale white color.

At that moment, Lili caught sight of the broadest smile imaginable on the girl’s face.

“I… I did it…” she spoke, almost breathlessly. “I did it!”

Aggie laughed cheerfully, continuing to test her newfound control. At first, she simply turned her powers on and off, but eventually, she began to experiment with her abilities. Conjuring electricity on her palm, she began to swing her hand around, creating a crackling electric stream behind it. Then, she began to shoot lightning bolts into the sky, sometimes charging it first sometimes shooting it right away. All this she did with the broad smile never leaving her face.

Lili is wearing a smile of her own, watching Aggie’s antics. The Puritan’s giddiness reminded her of her first time using pyrokinesis. The first time is always the most exciting. Though, there is a noticeable lack of forest fire on Aggie’s, which is a good thing.

Seeing that her job is done, Lili slid down the rock that she’s sitting on, opting to sit on the ground and lean on the rock.

“By the way, that piece you played earlier, there’s more to it, right?” Lili asked.

With one last lightning bolt to the sunset, Aggie replied, “There is, actually. You want to hear the rest?”

“Yes, please.” Lili answered, smiling eagerly.

Smiling just as eagerly, Aggie picked up her violin and continued playing. Lili bobbed her head back and forth to the melody, her feet tapping rhythmically to the grass. The music fills the air as the sun began its final descent into the horizon. The sun finally disappears from view as Aggie hits the final note, leaving the forest in a blanket of darkness. Not a moment after, millions of stars made themselves visible on the night sky, bathing the forest in their gentle light.   

Lili and Aggie smiled at the sky, in awe of the dots twinkling above.

“Oh, does that piece have a name?” Lili asked, still staring at the stars.

“Yeah,” Aggie replied, keeping her gaze fixed on the sky, “it’s called ‘Little Ghost’.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's the asshole who forgot that he has an account on this website???
> 
> Yeah, I completely forgot about AO3 for a while there, mostly because of school stuff. But, now that I remembered it, I will try to post as many chapters as I can. Expect maybe at least two more chapters. With that said, I hope you guys like this chapter!
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated!!!


	5. Army Of Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when our favorite group gets placed in the frigid province of Skyrim? Pretty much the same stuff as usual, only bloodier.

**Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs**

**Army Of Nine**

“Are you done yet?” Raz asked once again to the Redguard boy.

With a swing of his hammer to the still red-hot steel of the Nordic boy’s sword, Wybie wearily replied. “Look, you saw me smith before. Ten minutes is not gonna make that much of a difference.”

“But, this is the Skyforge!” Raz said, gesturing to the grand forge that Wybie is working in. “Isn’t it supposed to be faster?”

“Better, not faster.” Wybie replied, continuing his hammering. “Besides, nothing good ever comes out of something that’s rushed. Take your girlfriend’s cooking for example, those never ended well.” he snickered.

Raz glared at the Redguard boy. ”Yeah, like _you_ r girlfriend is any better.” he said, smirking.

Wybie’s cheeks grew a faint red. “She’s not my- never mind.” he sighed, knowing there is no point in arguing with the Nord. “Look, if you’re here just to mess with me, you’re better off doing something a bit more useful, like train or turn into a werewolf or something.”

“Fine. Just get it done quick.” And with that, Raz turned away from Wybie and walked away. He went down the set of stairs leading up to the Skyforge, heading towards Jorrvaskr’s training grounds. What he saw there made his jaw drop.

Coraline, her mace in one hand and her shield in another, is dueling against a hulking Frost Atronach, conjured by none other than Mabel. Coraline rolled to the left, dodging the Atronach’s icy fist. She swung her mace, shattering the Atronach’s left leg, causing it fall down. With another swing, Coraline shattered the being’s head, reducing it to a pile of ice. However, the look on Mabel’s face suggested that she’s not about to give up just yet.

Black magickal orbs appeared on each of the Breton girl’s hands. She threw them at the ground, creating two swirling vortex of dark purple. From one, an ethereal sword flew towards Mabel’s hand, and from another, out came a humanoid being made out of fire. Mabel and the being she conjured stood side-by-side, ready for Coraline. The blue-haired Nord girl held her mace and shield at the ready, prepared for another round.

Both sides looks fired up for a fight, until Raz stepped in.

“You two! What do you think you’re doing?!” he exclaimed, putting himself between the two girls.

“Uh, training?” Mabel replied rather bluntly.

“Yeah, you said we can train here.” Coraline added.

“When I said train, I didn’t mean destroy Jorrvaskr’s training grounds!” Raz spat. “Just look at what you did!”

And Raz is right; the training ground is absolutely ruined. Upon realizing this, the two girls sheepishly put their weapons away. Coraline sheathed her mace, while Mabel made the sword and Flame Atronach vanish into thin air.

“Oh man, Vilkas is gonna be so pissed.” Raz groaned, face palming.

“So what?” a female voice asked from the sidelines. “You’re their Harbinger, right? The youngest one in the history of the Companions.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t get in trouble, Lil.” Raz replied, looking at the purple-haired Imperial girl.

“Don’t worry, we’ll help you clean up.” another voice spoke, this time from the Breton girl’s twin brother. “I got some new spells that can help.”

“Uh, yeah, no thanks to the spells.” Raz declined, still fully remembering what Dipper’s ‘new spells’ might do. “Let’s just clean this up the old-fashioned way.”

Dipper shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

The five children grabbed the nearest cleaning equipment and immediately got to work. After about half an hour or so, Raz must admit that the training ground is cleaning up quite nicely. He can attribute the damages he and his friends can’t fix to the other Companions’ training. This is a training ground, after all.

As they neared completion, three very familiar figures rounded the corner, each carrying a fully-filled basket.

“Guys, you won’t believe what Norman just pulled off!” Neil happily announced, putting his basket down.

“C’mon Neil, it’s not that big a deal.” Norman said, putting his basket down as well.

“Yes it is! This guy managed to talk Belethor to let us buy all this for just 200 gold!” Neil beamed.

“Whoa, that’s impressive.” Dipper nodded.

“No, guys, seriously, it’s not.” Norman modestly replied, nervously scratching his neck.

“Norman, the original price was 500 gold. I’d say that was quite an achievement.” Aggie added after she put her basket down.

“Wait a minute,” Mabel sniffed the air, “are those sweetrolls?” she gestured to the basket near Aggie. Smiling, the Altmer girl nodded. Mabel beamed, diving towards the basket. “Gimme them sweetrolls!”

Mabel pulled one out of the basket and began munching on it messily, leaving bits of the treat stuck on her cheeks. “You guys didn’t steal any of those sweetrolls, right?” Coraline asked with a teasing smile.

“Yeah, the guards might get mad.” Raz chuckled.

“We’ll just get Norman to shoot them in the knee. Easy.” Neil joked, and the rest laughed heartily. The group continued on this for a while, eating sweetrolls and cracking jokes on the various adventures they had in Skyrim.

“… and the guy suddenly flew into the air! I pretty sure that’s not what’s supposed to happen when a giant swings his club at you.”

“I swear, this one time, a horse just randomly dropped out of the sky.”

“Last week, I was in the market in Winterhold, everyone is just staring at me. It’s like they’re waiting for me to start a conversation with them. It was creepy.”

“Seriously though, who shoots people in the knee? Everyone is complaining about it these days.”

“The heck does everyone wonders where the body came from? I was literally fighting the guy just a second ago!”

“Why can I throw around dragon skeletal remains with my fireballs?”

A sharp cough stopped their chatter and drew their attention. A bald man, probably in his early fifties and dressed in fine clothes stood behind them.

“Oh, what’s wrong, Proventus?” Norman asked.

The man, Proventus Avenicci, replied, “Greetings, Dragon Children. Jarl Balgruuf requests your presence in the Dragonsreach.”

Coraline showed concern. “What’s the matter?”

“I believe this matter should be discussed with the Jarl personally.” Proventus replied. “This is quite urgent, so please hurry.” With that, the man turned away and left.

With the steward gone, all eyes pointed at Coraline. After a quick thinking, she spoke, “Get Wybie.”

* * *

 

The Dragon Children, all nine of them, approached the Jarl’s throne, where the blonde aged Jarl sat lazily. They stopped at the foot of the throne, bowing to the Jarl.

“Rise, my Thanes.” the Jarl commanded, and the nine complied, rising back to their feet.

“You have something to discuss with us, my Jarl?” Norman asked, stepping forward.

 The aged man nodded. “Yes, we’ve received reports of increased bandit activity east of Whiterun.”

“Bandits? That’s it?” Raz said. “I thought this was supposed to be urgent.”

“Yes, usually the guards can handle this by themselves.” the Jarl nodded. “But, these bandits are… different.”

Dipper raised a brow. “Different how?”

“Instead of just simple, mindless thugs, they also seem to have skilled mages, deadly assassins, and even wild beasts at their disposal.” the man explained.

This new bit of information caught the interest of each of the Dragon Children. “They grow in strength and in numbers each day. They are becoming increasingly bolder as well, attacking travelers in broad daylight.” the Jarl explained further. “A report even claimed that the bandits attacked a _Thalmor_ convoy.”

Their eyes widened at the information. If these bandits are bold enough to mess with the Thalmor, it won’t be long before they start attacking settlements around Whiterun, or even the city of Whiterun itself.

“With the Civil War brewing and the Dragons still at large, this unholy alliance is the last thing that Whiterun, and even Skyrim, needs.” Balgruuf finished, concern written all over his aging features.

“Dragonborn,” at the mention of his other name, Norman looked up at the Jarl, “can I trust you and your companions with this task?”

Norman glanced at his friends, seeking their opinion. In response, they all showed him a look of approval. The Dragonborn smiled, turning back to the Jarl. “We will do our best, my Jarl.”

The aging Jarl smiled. “I expected nothing less from the Dragon Children, heroes of Skyrim.”

“We believe that the bandits’ headquarters is in a fort east of Whiterun, near the border of Eastmarch. How soon can you depart?” the Jarl inquired.

“As soon as possible, my Jarl.” Coraline replied.

“Excellent. Now, go and rid Skyrim of this unholy alliance.” Balgruuf stated. The nine bowed at the Jarl, before turning back the way they came.

“What now?” Neil asked as they walked.

Coraline shot a glance at the chubby boy. “Now, we gear up.”

* * *

 

“Is that it?” Coraline asked, eyeing the rundown structure in the distance. The blue-haired Nord girl is out of her civilian clothing, now wearing a steel horned helmet and steel plated armor, gauntlets, and boots.

“Hold on, let’s do a headcount.” Wybie spoke, observing the fort using binoculars of his own design. The Redguard is also out of his civilian clothes, now wearing a heavily modified set of golden dwarven armor. “Thugs, check. Mages, check. Thieves and assassins, check. Oh, and monsters, check.”

The Redguard boy tucked the binoculars back to his satchel. “Yep, they got ‘em all. That’s the one.” 

“Hey, haven’t we cleared out that place before?” Raz spoke, now wearing a set of lightweight leather armor. Beside him, Lili had her gaze locked on the fort, now wearing a set of light Imperial armor.

“We did. And we made a map of it. So, I guess we got one thing going for us.” Dipper said, leaning against a dead tree, now wearing a set of expert-level mage robes, enchanted with enhancements that support his school of magick, Destruction and Illusion. Mabel sat on the ground beside him, also wearing a set of expert-level mage robes, but hers has enhancements supporting the magick school of Conjuration and Restoration.

“Just one strategic advantage won’t matter when you’re outnumbered ten to one.” Norman bluntly stated, perched on a rock, now wearing a shrouded cowl, vest, gloves, and boots. Aggie is standing beside him, now wearing hooded Thalmor robes.

“Aw, come on, Norman! We’ll get through this, like we always did!” Neil grinned, now wearing a set of scaled armor.

“The future is not set in stone; anything can happen.” said Norman, leaving the Dragon Children in a depressing note.

“Well, on that _cheerful_ note,” Wybie spat, turning to face the blue-haired Nord, “what’s the verdict, Coraline?”

 Coraline observed her surroundings, taking notice that the sun is almost touching the horizon. “The sun’s almost setting. There’s probably only an hour of daylight left.” she spoke, turning to address the others.

“We should camp here for the night. This spot is far away enough so they won’t get suspicious. Dipper, bring out that map. We’ll talk about how we’re gonna attack tonight. We strike early in the morning tomorrow.” Coraline commanded, and the others complied.

By the time the sun is halfway down, the Children already has nine tents raised and a campfire started, with a cooking pot brewing and some deer meat roasting over the fire. The Children gathered around the fire, heartily eating the meal cooked and prepared by Mabel and Neil.

By the time they finished their meal, the sun has completely set, leaving the land covered in darkness, the only source of light coming from the campfire, the fort in the distance, and the twin moons in the sky. 

After the meal, the Kids occupied themselves with various activities. Raz is practicing at the edge of the camp, swinging his twin Skyforge steel sword around at an imaginary foe. Lili is leaning against a dead tree nearby, observing Raz while twirling her elven dagger around in her hand. Mabel and Neil are stargazing not far away from the camp, with Neil pretending to shoot the stars with his ebony bow, drawing chuckles from Mabel.  Coraline and Wybie are sharpening their weapons around the campfire, Coraline sharpening her glass mace and Wybie sharpening his dwarven greatsword, respectively. Norman sat just outside his tent, tending to his dragonbone bow and arrows, while Aggie is meditating nearby. Dipper stayed inside his tent, studying the map of the fort under the light of a candle.

Half an hour later, Dipper emerged from his tent, the map in hand.

“Gather up everyone!” he exclaimed. The Children quickly gathered and formed a circle, the map laid out in the middle.

“I think I figured out a plan.” Dipper began. “Now, you guys might remember, on our last raid on that fort, I accidentally made a hole in the northeastern wall, right here.” Dipper pointed to the upper right corner of the map. “It’s pretty small, way too small for an adult to pass through. However, it’s just the right size for kids. And since adults can’t pass through, those bandits might not even bother to fix it.”

“One of us can pass through it, sneak past anyone on guard duty, and pull the lever to open the gates, which is located here, just above the gate.” Dipper shifted his gaze towards Lili. “Lili?”

“Consider it done.” The purple-haired girl nodded.

“Good.” Dipper nodded back. “Now, I need someone to shadow Lili while she’s inside and take out anyone that she can’t sneak past.” Dipper turned towards Norman and Neil. “I’m pretty sure you two can do that, right?”

“No problem.” Neil spoke as he proudly held out his bow, while Norman simply nodded.

Dipper then continued his explanation. “While Lili is opening the gate, we hide just outside their line of sight, about a few dozen meters outside the gate. Once the gate is open, we go in, sneak through the courtyard, and enter the fort. If we do it perfectly, we can take half of them out before they even realized we were there.”

Dipper stood up, his explanation finished. “Any questions?”

Neil raised his hand. “Yes, Neil?”

“Can’t we just get Norman to call Odahviing?”

“What?!” the others exclaimed, all at the same time.

“What?” Neil raised both hands innocently.

“Dude, that’s overkill, even for me.” Raz said.

“Okay, okay, no dragon-calling, got it.” Neil rolled his eyes. “Sheesh, I’m just suggesting, y’know?”

“If no one has any more questions,” Coraline spoke, rising to her feet, “then we all should bunk in right away. We strike tomorrow morning, as early as possible.”

The others nodded in agreement, and made their way to their respective tents. Everyone, except for Raz and Wybie, who stayed put in their seat.

“And what are you two doing?” Coraline asked.

The two shared a quick glance at each other, before Wybie spoke, “I think we’re just gonna keep watch for the night.”

“Besides, in case you didn’t remember, sleep won’t do us much good.” Raz added, giving her a wolfish grin.

“Oh yeah,” Coraline said, remembering the cause, “I can’t believe that bit managed to slip past my mind.”

“Don’t go on an impromptu hunt, you two.” She said, before slipping into her tent.

The two barked out a laugh at the joke, before turning their attention to the full moon in the sky, already feeling the all-too familiar sensation of adrenaline rushing through their veins.

* * *

 

“’Just the right size’, he said.” Lili grumbled, struggling to fit through the small hole in the wall. “Yeah, right.” she snorted.

With one last grunt, she managed to pass through the hole, falling face first to the ground. She quickly scrambled back to her feet, her elven dagger gripped at the ready on her left hand.

Her eyes scanned the area for anyone that might hinder her, but she found none. Still cautious nonetheless, the girl made her way towards the set of stairs next to the gate, tiptoeing her way across the courtyard. As she reached the stairs, she took a glance behind her, making sure she didn’t miss something earlier. Again, she found none.

Satisfied, she continued up the stairs, tiptoeing all the way. Reaching the top of the stairs, she spotted the lever just a few feet away from her, along with something else. Or rather, someone else.

A lone, sleepy-looking man stood on guard, wearing some leather armor, staring off into the wilderness. Lili took a few steps back, her mind cooking up the best way to quietly dispose of him. A light thud entered her ear, interrupting her thoughts. She took a peek up the stairs, and found the man lying motionless on the ground, a dragonbone arrow pierced right between his eyes.

Rolling her eyes, she made her way to the lever, casting a quick glance to the wilderness outside, barely spotting the boy in the darkness of the early morning. Even if she can’t see it, she can just feel the boy smirking at her direction.

She pulled the lever, and almost instantaneously she heard gears whirring below her feet as the gate started to open. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted eight figures emerge from their hiding spots and rush towards the gate. She too moved quickly, going down the stairs and positioning herself beside the gate. A few seconds passed, and those eight figures arrived, their weapons held at the ready.

“I don’t really need help with that guy, Norman.” Lili spoke as the boy passed.

“You’re taking too long.” Norman replied, giving her a brief smirk.

“Okay everyone, slow and steady now. We just have to get past the courtyard and get in the fort.” Coraline said as they cautiously made their way to the door at the other side of the courtyard.

“Hey, did you get any trouble?” Raz whispered, putting himself next to Lili.

“Not really,” Lili replied, also keeping her voice down to a whisper, “Besides that guy that Norman shot, there was barely anyone-“

A sudden crash came from behind the group, startling them. They whipped their heads to the source of the sound, and to their surprise, found that the gate has been closed shut.

“-here.”

 Torches and lanterns suddenly burst to life, lighting up the entire fort, revealing a surprising sight. The bandits, mages, and assassins the Children thought were sleeping are lined up on the wall, wielding a large variety of weapons and magic. More emerged from their hiding spots on ground level, some revealing cages inhabited with bloodthirsty-looking wolves, bears, and other bestial creatures.

Seeing all of it, Dipper sighed. “I knew this was too easy.”

One bandit on the wall above the gate stepped forward, a condescending smirk on his face. Judging by his armor which is significantly better than the others, it’s clear that he is the leader.

“If it isn’t the famous Dragon Children.” the man spoke, smirking. “Thanes of the nine Holds, said to be blessed by both the Nine Divines and the Daedric Princes themselves. Slayer of countless dragons, and thwarter of more than one calamity that could have torn Tamriel itself asunder.”

“Such great achievements for ones so young.” the smirk suddenly turned into a glare. “Unfortunately, that glorious streak ends today.”

“Oh please,” Coraline rolled her eyes, “we’ve been through worse.”

“Yeah, like, ‘dragon priest plus two dragons’ worse.” Raz added.

“True, you might have slain countless others who share our profession, but you are no match against our massive combined army.” As if on cue, a low chuckle came from some of the bandits, while others grinned like a madman.

“Guys, please tell me it’s not really that massive.” Neil said, warily eyeing their foes.

“Uhh, I lost count at fifty.” Wybie replied.

The bandit leader spoke again. “Tonight, I sense a gloomy atmosphere enveloping taverns all around Skyrim, as the bards sing the most tragic tale, of the demise of the Dragon Chil-“

A single arrow left Norman’s dragonbone bow, piercing the man’s neck through and through. The bandits went into a stunned silence as they watched their leader fall lifelessly to the ground below. Meanwhile, the Children shot Norman an annoyed look.

“What?” he asked nonchalantly.

“Dude, let the man finish his speech for Hircine’s sake!” Wybie spat.

“He already said too much.” Norman calmly replied. “And keep Hircine to yourself. I’m not with him.”

“Uh, guys?” Mabel spoke, diverting their attention back to their enemies. They have broken out of their stunned stupor, and judging from their glares, gritted teeth, and angered curses, they are undoubtedly pissed off.

The Children quickly formed a circle, their weapons held at the ready. Dipper summoned an Ice Spike spell on his right hand and a Fear spell on his left, Mabel quickly summoned a magic sword on her right and prepared a Steadfast Ward spell on her left hand, Norman and Neil pulled an arrow out of their quiver and prepared them on their respective bows, Aggie casted a Stoneflesh spell on herself then summoned Spark spells on both her hands, Coraline had her glass mace and the Shield of Ysgramor held at the ready, Wybie gripped his dwarven greatsword with both hands tightly, Raz swung both of his Skyforge Steel Sword around as an act of intimidation before holding them in a battle stance, and Lili prepared a Firebolt spell on her right hand while twirling her elven dagger around on her left hand.

Their enemies also prepared themselves, dozens of weapons are raised and various spells are prepared.

“So, an army of fifty versus an army of nine, huh?” a grin broke out on Coraline’s features. “Looks like the bards will have one hell of a tale to sing tonight.”

* * *

 

Raz parried the swing of the rather large man’s greatsword, before retaliating with plunging both of his swords to the man’s chest, the man groaning weakly before the life left him. Raz pulled out his sword, letting the man’s corpse fall to the ground.

Out of the corner of his eye, Raz spotted an orc wielding a large warhammer charging at his direction. Before Raz can do any harm to the orc, an ice spike bursts out of the orc’s chest, impaling him from behind. The orc fell to the ground, revealing Dipper standing a few feet behind him, an Ice Spike spell on his right hand. Raz flashed Dipper a smirk, which he returned with a smirk of his own, before their focus returned to the battle around them.

A group of three approached Dipper, all wielding steel axes. They all charged at the same time, and Dipper quickly shot an ice spike at them. Two dodged the projectile, but one wasn’t so lucky, the spike impaling his abdomen. Dipper rolled to the right as the two swung their axes at him. He quickly spun around and shot another ice spike, impaling one at the back of his head. The last one charged at Dipper again, but the Breton boy already prepared a deep scarlet orb on his left palm. He threw the orb, and the man’s eyes instantly grew wide once the orb hit him. Dipper smirked; his Fear spell worked perfectly.

The man dropped his axe and, knees trembling, frantically ran away from Dipper as fast as he can. The man was so blinded by fear that he failed to notice an incoming swing of a dwarven greatsword straight to his neck. His corpse fell to the ground, and his severed head followed moments after. Wybie casted a quick glance to the man he just decapitated, before spotting a Khajiit charging at him with nothing but a small steel dagger. The Redguard had to physically stop himself from chuckling at the stupidity of the attempt. He quickly disposed of the cat person by running him through with his greatsword.

However, the boy didn’t notice an arrow flying straight to the back of his neck. Coraline rushed in, and just in the nick of time, deflecting the arrow with her shield. Wybie shot a glance behind him and, spotting the arrow lying on the ground, gave the blue-haired Nord a quick nod as thanks. Coraline nodded back before running off, going face-to-face with an Argonian and a female Nord. Both are wielding steel swords, but the female Nord also wields an iron shield. The Argonian attacked first, but Coraline parried the swing of his sword with her shield. She then swept the Argonian off his feet, before her glass mace bashed the lizard man’s face in. The female Nord quickly rushed in, catching her off guard and bashing her with her iron shield, knocking Coraline to her back. The female Nord raised her sword to the air, aiming at the still-recovering Coraline’s neck.

Suddenly, a hand wielding an elven dagger reached from behind the female Nord and slit the Nord’s throat. The Nord’s eyes bulged out in shock, before she dropped lifelessly to the ground. Behind her, stood Lili, a bloodied dagger on her left hand.

“I believe you owe me one.” Lili smirked, a hand outstretched towards Coraline.

Coraline rolled her eyes, but she accepted her hand nonetheless, rising back to her feet. All of a sudden, Coraline gave Lili a hard shove, just as an arrow whooshed past the spot Lili was standing.

“Well, would you look at that, we just got even.” Coraline grinned. Lili rolled her eyes, before turning her attention to the person that shot the arrow; a Bosmer wielding a hunting bow standing a good distance away from her.

Lili dashed towards the Bosmer as he shot more arrows at her. The Imperial girl deftly dodged each and every arrow the Bosmer shot, before swiftly retaliating with a Firebolt spell. The ball of fire knocked the hunting bow out of the Bosmer’s hands, leaving him wide open. But, before Lili can move in for the finishing blow, the Bosmer was already impaled by the tusks of an ethereal warthog.

“That’s it, Waddles! Stab all of the bad guys!” a voice exclaimed, its source a brown haired Breton girl. Seeing that her target is taken care of, Lili dashed off to find another target.

Meanwhile, Mabel spotted a group of archers raining down arrows at her brother. The girl whistled sharply, catching her swine familiar’s attention, and she pointed a finger at the group. Her familiar understood, squealing as it made a mad charge towards the group. The familiar quite literally tore the archers apart, eliciting a proud smile from Mabel. However, that smile quickly disappears when a lightning bolt struck her side. She cried out in pain, craning her head to look at her attacker; a Dunmer mage. The Dunmer casted another Spark spell, but this time Mabel blocked it with a Ward spell. The Dark Elf continued his assault, bombarding Mabel’s Ward with a continuous stream of lightning. Two more mages joined in, adding two more electric streams to Mabel’s problems.

Before Mabel can signal Waddles to tear them apart, an extra large sized fireball already did the job for her.  Mabel deactivated her ward, giving a thumbs up to the person that casted the fireball; Aggie. The Altmer girl replied with a sweet little smile, before turning her attention to another group of mages, blasting them away with a two-handed Spark spell. As she searched for more enemies, she spotted Neil ducking behind some crates as archers rained arrows from above the walls on his cover, a panicked look on his features. Aggie quickly conjured a light green orb and shot it at Neil. Once the orb hits; the effects of the Courage spell kicks off almost instantaneously.

A confident smile formed on Neil’s features as a green aura enveloped his form. He emerged from his cover, an arrow already placed in his ebony bow. The arrow flew from the bow, quickly followed by another arrow, then another, then another, then another, until eventually only one archer remains on the wall. Neil prepared one more arrow, aiming for the spot between the man’s eyes. But, before the ebony arrow can leave his bow, a different arrow has already lodged itself in the man’s skull. Neil smirked and took off to find another target, as he knew there is only one person that could have fired that arrow, and that person sure as hell doesn’t need _any_ kind of help.

Norman pulled out the dragonbone arrow out of the man’s skull, putting it back in his quiver. He looked left and right, where thugs and mages alike are already filling up the narrow space above the fort’s wall, all eager for a chance to slay the legendary Dragonborn. Norman smirked; these fools are getting stupider and stupider each day.

“ _Tiid Klo Ul!_ ”

Quick as lightning, dozens of arrow are already fired before his enemies can even blink. By the time they finished blinking, half of them are lying on the ground, riddled with arrows. An expression of utter horror dawned on the faces of his enemies, while Norman wore the most serene expression, with his lips curled ever so slightly to form the tiniest of smirks.  

His foes, both thugs and mages, all scrambled away from Norman, some even dropping their weapons along the way, while others dropped more than weapons in their pants. And not just Norman’s foes, all over the fort, the Dragon Children’s enemies finally became smart enough to realize that every single rumor they heard about the Children were true, and some of them might even be an understatement.

Every one of them retreated, tripping and stumbling along the way, making their way to the entrance of the fort. Once all of them are inside, they closed the door and barred it from the inside. Not that barring the door would actually slow the Children down.

The Dragon Children gathered around the barred door, their weapons bloodied, their stamina drained, their magicka nearly depleted, but somehow still ready for more. Even more, each of them are wearing varying degrees of a mad grin, imagining their foes cowering in fear behind the door.

“Norman,” Coraline spoke, her glass mace and her shield gripped tightly, “would you mind knocking on the door for us?”

Smiling, Norman took a step forward. He sheathed his dragonbone bow back on his back. Positioning himself directly in front of the door, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes, revealing fiery orbs of blue. He opened his mouth, and out came an ancient language that has been the downfall of many of his foes.

 _“Fus Ro Dah!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this back when I'm in the middle of a Skyrim-obsessed phase, and also because moringmark made posts about a GF Skyrim AU on Tumblr. That's more than enough to set me off.
> 
> A little heads up, it might get pretty violent from this chapter onwards, so to those with a weak stomach, be warned. Aside from that, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated!!!


	6. Gravity Falls Grand Prix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is why prepubescent kids should not be allowed to have a race across the town.

**Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs**

“Do you really have to tinker with your bike every day?” the blue-haired girl asked, sitting on Wybie’s workbench.

“Jonesy, that’s like asking if a fish needs water.” Wybie replied from underneath his bike, still busy tinkering with it. “Besides, today’s a special day.”

“You going racing with the boys again?” she asked.

“Yep. And I’m going to win this time.” the boy replied.

“Really? After what happened last time?” Coraline asked with a teasing smile. She moved towards Wybie and knelt beside him, “You ate Raz’s dust, literally.”

“Last time didn’t count.” Wybie replied grouchily. He slid out from under the bike and moved to his workbench, starting to tinker with something on it.

“You’re just being a sore loser, why-were-you-born.” she teased, rising back to her feet.

“Hey, when someone brought psychic powers to a race, it’s not considered a race anymore.” Wybie said, still busy tinkering.

“Oh, stop whining, you baby. Raz didn’t mess you up that bad.” Coraline rolled her eyes.

Wordlessly, Wybie put his skull mask in Coraline’s view. Her eyes widened at the state of the mask; badly burnt on one side. “Okay, I guess he did go a little overboard with the fireballs.”

“A _little_?” Wybie casted a quick, annoyed glance.

“At least you came out fine, right?” Coraline said.

“Well, if that kid tries anything funny again, at least now I have a little something up my sleeve.” Wybie spoke with a mischievous grin, piquing Coraline’s interest.

“A little something up your sleeve?”

The boy moved away from his worktable, giving Coraline a clear view of the object he was tinkering with. Although taken aback for a few moments, a grin similar to Wybie’s quickly worked its way to the girl’s features.

“That is a _big_ something up your sleeve.”

* * *

 

“Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the most hair-raising, adrenaline-pumping, jaw-dropping race competition this dimension has and ever will witness; the Gravity Falls Grand Prix!” Mabel announced at the top her lungs, complete with over-the-top gestures, to the hilariously small crowd of Neil, Aggie, and Lili. Even then, Neil is the only one showing the same level of excitement as Mabel.

“Wooo!!” Neil shouted, clapping elatedly. Aggie has a cheerful smile on her face, while Lili looks bored out of her mind.

“Today, four fearless speed-freaks are going to give their all in a grueling, high-velocity contest for a chance to win the ultimate prize: the Mystery Trophy!” Mabel shouted, gesturing to a crudely-made trophy made out of cardboard.

“Check your math, scream queen.” Lili spoke, annoyance written across her features. “Make that _three_ freaks.”

Mabel took a peek at the contestants lined up at the starting line and found that one of them is indeed missing. “Where’s Wybie?” she asked.

“I haven’t seen him since breakfast.” Norman said, sitting on his bike-motorcycle hybrid.

“I think he’s cooping himself up in the garage.” Dipper added, sitting on driver’s seat of the Mystery Cart.

“That little baby probably doesn’t want to go up against me anymore.” Raz stated with a smug smile, drawing annoyed groans from Norman and Dipper.

“Well, we can’t start the race without him.” Mabel pouted.

“I’m here!” A voice called out. Everyone turned towards the source, spotting Wybie with his bike beside him, Coraline tailing behind him.

Raz crossed his arms, a smug smirk on his face. “Well, it’s about time. I’m starting to think you’re backing out.”

“Oh, I have no intention of backing out.” Wybie spoke, sharing a mischievous grin with Coraline, drawing curious looks from the others. The two shared a quick fist bump before Coraline joined the spectators, while Wybie positioned his bike on the starting line.

“Hey, what’s that?” Dipper asked, pointing to some sort of container attached to the back seat of Wybie’s bike.

“Just a little something to help me win.” Wybie replied with a barely contained grin.

“Alright, now that everyone’s here, we can go on with the show!” Mabel beamed, switching back to her over-the-top announcer persona. “Contestants, time to explain how this supersonic showdown’s gonna go down!”

“This race is divided into three segments. First, the contestants will race from here, the Mystery Shack, across town and get to the junkyard. How you get there is completely up to you, the only rule here is you cannot directly hurt or hinder other contestants. That means, things like a _psi-blast to the face, ”_ Mabel, along with everyone else, gave Raz a sharp glare, which he replied with sheepish chuckle, “is _strictly_ forbidden. But, doing things like blocking your opponents’ path is fair game.”

“Once the contestants entered the junkyard, we move on to the second stage of the race. Here, the contestants will race around the junkyard to find a red flag, expertly hidden by yours truly.” Mabel gestured to herself, earning her eye rolls from everyone except for Neil and Aggie.

“If one of the contestants somehow managed to find the flag that I have hidden with extreme hideyness, then we immediately move on to the third and last stage of the race. In this stage, the contestants will race on a linear route from the junkyard to the “Welcome to Gravity Falls’ sign at the edge of town. But, here’s the catch; there will be _absolutely_ no rules in this leg of the race, meaning contestants can steal the flag from other contestants and just pretty much go nuts on each other.”

A grin made its way to Raz’s features, and a very annoying one at that.

“First one to cross the finish line at the sign, with the flag in hand, will be declared the champion of the GRAVITY FALLS GRAND PRIX!!” Mabel exclaimed at the very top of her lungs, earning grimaces from the people around her.

Mabel took a deep, deep breath, before continuing. “Alrighty then, gentleman, start your engines!”

Recovering from Mabel’s screech, three engines roared to life one by one, while a swirling ball of psychic energy formed underneath Raz’s feet, suspending him in midair. A look of fierce determination made its way to each of the contestants’ features. Even Norman, who took part only because of the urging of his friends (*cough*Aggie*cough*), wore that competitive look.

“Ready!” Mabel exclaimed, pointing her grappling hook into the sky.

The sounds of engines revving filled the air, while the swirls on Raz’s psi-ball spun faster by the second.

“Set!” Mabel placed a finger on trigger, careful not to fire it too early.

The competitive spirit can be felt even among the spectators. Neil, Aggie, and Coraline are trying to outdo each other in their cheers. Even Lili now looks mildly interested.

“GO!”

Mabel’s hook flew to the sky, and in almost the same moment, the four racers are propelled forward, the tires of their vehicles (or psi-ball, in Raz’s case) spewing out muck and dirt behind them. The four sped out of sight, accompanied by the cheers of their friends from the sidelines. Once they are well out of sight, the cheers slowly died down, except for Neil’s, who kept clapping on excitedly.

However, he eventually stopped when Mabel’s hook returned from the sky.

“Owww…” Neil groaned, rubbing the top of his head.

Mabel grimaced. “Sorry, Neil.”

* * *

 

Wybie turned left hard, cutting the sidewalk by a few inches, eliciting a yelp from a nearby pedestrian. Behind him, Dipper emerged from the same corner, all four tires squealing as he drifted into the turn. The twelve year old almost crashed the cart into a pedestrian on the sidewalk, but he managed to regain control at the last second, quickly hot on Wybie’s tail once again.

Wybie took a glance behind him, smirking. “That heap of junk ain’t built for racing, disco girl!”

An irritated look flashed across Dipper’s features for a second, but it’s quickly replaced by a smirk of his own. “At least I won’t turn into a ragdoll if I crash into that truck, blabber mouth!”

Alarmed, Wybie faced forward again, finding that there is an actual truck backing out into the road. He swerved to the right, narrowly missing the truck. Regaining himself from the near collision, Wybie silently berated himself for his carelessness, before twisting the throttle hard. His bike reacted accordingly, sending him speeding down the road.

An intersection came into sight ahead, and Wybie quickly decided that he would turn right ahead. As he took the turn, a red bike-motorcycle hybrid carrying a spiky haired boy suddenly zoomed past him. Out of shock, Wybie briefly lost control of his bike, but he quickly regained control. The spiky haired boy in front of him took a quick glance at Wybie, the edge of his lips curled into a tiny smirk. Wybie was genuinely surprised by that gesture.

Norman, of all people, just challenged him. And, with a grin and a hard twist at the throttle, Wybie gladly accepted.

Bit by bit, Wybie began to catch up to Norman, until eventually, they are neck and neck.

“You should know,” Wybie spoke, eyeballs darting towards Norman, “I haven’t tweaked that thing for a while.”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Norman replied, returning Wybie’s gaze, “I’ve been tweaking it myself.”

“Really?” Wybie smirked. “Well, guess that explains why you’re so slow.”

“Hey guys!” Dipper shouted, behind them by a few feet. “Don’t forget about me!”

“We still remember you, Dipper!” Norman shouted back, sharing a mischievous smile with Wybie.

“Yeah, as the kid stuck in last place!” Wybie added, chuckling afterwards. Dipper simply grumbled silently in reply.

 At the end of the street, the entrance of the junkyard came into view. The sight brought determined smiles to all three of them. Wybie’s smile in particular grew larger, as he slowly but surely took the lead. Wybie is now leading by a tire, and his smile just kept on growing.

Until he heard someone shouting from above him.

Out of the sky, Raz suddenly landed in front of them, the impact his psi-ball made shattering a rather large area of the concrete road. Wybie and Norman quickly swerved left and right, driving around the cracks to avoid getting thrown off their bikes. Behind them, Dipper braced himself as the ride became a little bumpy for the next few seconds.

Once they passed that, they are greeted by an all-too familiar face wearing an all-too familiar grin. The psychic is even floating backwards, as if to mock them even further.

“Hey, that was cheating!” Wybie yelled out.

“No it’s not. How am I supposed to know the road is going to break when I land on it?” Raz reasoned, but the lopsided grin on his features made it quite clear that he knew full well of what he did. The psychic turned back towards the junkyard, and gave himself a psychic boost to zoom past the entrance. The other three, irritated, wasted no time in following the psychic inside.

Once they are inside, the second leg of the race officially began; the hunt for the red flag. Raz is already scouring the junkyard for the flag, deftly maneuvering between the heaps of scrap thanks to his highly adaptable psi-ball. However, even though the others’ vehicles are only limited to one form, that doesn’t mean that they will give up so easily. The three split up, each searching for the flag using their own methods. Dipper, being the one using the largest vehicle, searched at a slow but steady pace, carefully observing every nook and cranny from afar since he can only stick to the larger paths. Norman’s method is similar to Dipper’s, steadily searching in every corner, with just a few bursts of speed in between. But, since his vehicle is smaller than Dipper’s, he can tread in paths that Dipper could never take. As for Wybie, his method involves him racing around the junkyard at high speed, eyes darting left and right in a frantic search for the flag. Whatever their method is, each one of them is certain that they will be the one to find the flag.

A full ten minutes passed, yet the flag remains unfound. After completing what must’ve been his hundredth lap around the junkyard, Wybie began to grow weary. His focus is decreasing after constantly squinting his eyes at his surroundings, the heat of the summer sun is making him sweat profusely, and his bottom is feeling sore after riding so long on an uneven surface. Eventually, Wybie pulled the brake pedal, coming to a full stop next to Dipper. From the looks of it, the twelve year old is also growing tired of the search.

“Man, when your sister said she hid it well, I never thought it’s going to be well-hidden in our standards too.” Wybie said, wiping some sweat from his forehead.

“Same here.” Dipper grumbled, his face buried into the steering wheel. “To be honest, I was kinda half-expecting for her to ‘hide’ the flag at the entrance gate.”

A dry chuckle escaped Wybie’s mouth as he straightened his legs, trying to work off the soreness all over his lower body. “Man, I really wish I have my mask right now.” he moaned. The magnifying glass he added to it would’ve been a huge help in finding the flag.

In the distance, he can hear engine noises and scrap metal being tossed around, meaning that Norman and Raz are still searching. Groaning, he forced himself to twist the throttle once again, propelling himself forward and leaving Dipper with his face still buried in the steering wheel.

He continued his search at a much slower pace this time, taking the time to carefully observe the piles of junk around him in search of that elusive red flag. His more cautious method seems to bear fruit, as he spotted a path he never noticed before. The path is incredibly narrow, pitted by two huge junk piles. It is so narrow in fact, that Wybie’s bike can barely fit through. Nevertheless, the boy continued onwards, carefully of course, lest he accidentally knock one of the junk out of its place and be buried under several tons of scrap metal. He looked left and right as he travels down the narrow path, but it seems the flag is not here either. A disappointed sigh escaped his lips, thinking that going down this path is just a waste of time.

Until he turned his gaze upwards.

Hanging several feet above the path before him, is a wreckage of a car. And sticking out of the car’s exhaust pipe, hung a small red flag.

A chuckle of both joy and disbelief came from Wybie’s mouth at the sight. He briefly wondered on how on earth did Mabel managed to place the flag all the way up there, before wondering on how on earth is he supposed to retrieve the flag from all the way up there. However, he noticed a piece of scrap metal further along the path that is positioned into a crude ramp, and perfectly placed so that someone can launch off the ramp to get the flag.

It’s far too perfect for it to be a coincidence.

Silently thanking Mabel for the help, Wybie twisted the throttle as hard as he can, speeding down the path as fast as the bike can take him. He launched off the ramp, stretching an arm upwards as he neared the flag. He snatched the red flag from the exhaust pipe, and a huge grin immediately formed on his face. He successfully landed his bike on the ground, and continued speeding until he is out of the narrow path.

He came to a full stop, taking some time to swallow the stunt he just pulled. He looked down to see the red flag he held in his hand, and an overjoyed feeling quickly crept up to him.

“I got it!” he yelled out, raising the flag to the sky. But, just a second later, Wybie immediately realized the stupidity of what he just done. His voice must’ve been heard throughout the junkyard, and already he can hear engine sounds converging on him.

“Aw, crud.”

He twisted the throttle hard, speeding as fast as he can towards the exit, or at least towards where he thought the exit is. He turned left and right, now in search of a way out of the junkyard. As he rounded a random corner, he was met with the sight of Norman and Dipper speeding straight towards him. A silent curse escaped his lips, quickly turning around to go back the way he came. Now with two people hot on his tail, Wybie is more frantic than ever to find the exit. Fortunately, since Dipper’s cart is much heavier that Wybie’s bike and Norman’s bike still requires a bit of pedaling to get the engine running, Wybie managed to stay ahead for most of the time.

Wybie rounded yet another random corner, and to his infinite relief, the exit is right in front of him. He gleefully sped out of the junkyard, with Norman and Dipper following close behind, initiating the third and last leg of the race. As if on cue, golf balls are pelted at Wybie from behind, courtesy of both Dipper and Norman. It seems Dipper found some golf balls inside one of the many hidden compartments aboard the Mystery Cart, which he then gave to Norman so the medium can shoot them at Wybie with his slingshot.

“You’re ganging up on me?! Seriously?!” Wybie shrieked, swerving left and right to try to dodge some of the golf balls.

“Anything goes now, Lovat.” Norman grinned as he fired off another golf ball, managing to hit the hand that Wybie is using to hold the flag.

The flag came very close to slipping out of Wybie’s hand, but the boy managed to regain his grip around the flag. Wybie took a glance behind him, his eyes focused on the container attached to his bike, and his mind briefly wandered to its contents. The item he stored inside is sure to take both Norman and Dipper out and win him the race.

“No, not yet, Wybie. Not yet.” He muttered, choosing to endure the (relatively) harmless pelting of golf balls instead. A ball struck his ear, and he simply sighed, “At least Raz’s not around.”  

As the three sped down the road, the buildings at the side of the road are gradually replaced by trees, until eventually they are completely replaced by rows and rows of trees. That could only mean they are getting close to the finish line, much to Wybie’s joy. Eventually, a right turn came into sight ahead, and a grin formed on Wybie’s lips. He’s not very familiar with the roads in Gravity Falls, but he knew that after that turn, it was just a straight line to the finish line, the ‘Welcome to Gravity Falls’ sign.

Wybie entered the turn, certain that victory is within his grasp.

Until he heard a bellow from above.

“Look out below!”

Judging from the last time he heard a shout from above him today, he instantly knew something bad is about to happen.

Raz landed right next to him, sending a psychic shockwave at every direction, knocking the flag out of Wybie’s hand, which Raz quickly took hold. Raz landed so close to Wybie in fact, that the shockwave threw both Wybie and his bike into the air and out of the road.

Still in midair, panic starts to set in for the young mechanic, until he realized, this is the perfect time for his ‘little something’ to take the spotlight. He opened the container at the back of his bike, and he reached inside with his left hand. He withdrew his left hand, now covered all the way to his elbow with a black-colored box-shaped contraption with a gleaming metal spear tip at the end. He pointed his left hand at a nearby tree, and the spear tip fired off towards the tree, leaving a thin wire connecting the tip to the contraption. The tip embedded itself to the tree, and once the wire tensed, the centrifugal force propelled him back into the road.

The boy landed right between Dipper and Norman, eliciting a surprised shriek from the two.

“You- wha- how-?!” Norman stuttered, shocked beyond words.

Wybie grinned in reply as the wire reels back into the contraption, with the spear tip eventually reattaching itself to the contraption.

Dipper narrowed his eyes at the gadget covering Wybie’s left arm. “Is that a-?”

“Arm spear!” Wybie finished, giving a proud gaze to the gadget he spent three sleepless days finishing. He turned his gaze forward, eyes narrowed on the psychic ahead, smugly waving the red flag around thinking that his victory is certain. He didn’t even notice Wybie’s rather grand return to the race.

With a hard twist at the throttle, Wybie surged ahead of Dipper and Norman. The two simply shared an amused smile, content to let Wybie win the race after seeing the insane stunt he just pulled. Wybie inched closer and closer to Raz, but overtaking the psychic is not what he had in mind. He pointed his arm spear at the psychic and, with the pull of a trigger concealed inside the contraption, fired off the spear tip.  

Wires wrapped around the legs of the oblivious Psychonaut, finally stopping his pre-victory celebration. Before Raz can react, Wybie gave the wires a hard pull. The pull made him lose his grip on the flag, and threw him backwards. Wybie flashed Raz a sly grin as the psychic passed him, catching the red flag with his right hand. Raz flew past Dipper and Norman before he used his powers to land safely. Even then, he can only stare dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events. He then let out a sigh, accepting his defeat. Nevertheless, he reformed his psi-ball and sped off to catch up to his friends.

With the flag in hand, the finish line coming in sight ahead, and his arm spear ready should anyone try to overtake him, victory is guaranteed for Wybie. He looked back, finding Norman, Dipper, and Raz behind him. The three smiled at him, as if giving him their blessing to win the race. Wybie smiled back, silently thanking them, before twisting the throttle for one last push to the finish line.

However, as the four got closer to the ‘Welcome To Gravity Falls’ sign, Wybie, along with the other three, noticed something odd on the sign. Wybie crossed the finish line first, as expected, with Norman the second, Dipper the third, and Raz coming in fourth. However, there were no cheers, no celebration, no victory dances. The four braked to a full stop, abandoned their vehicles, and gathered in front of the sign.

They stared at it, the race and its outcome completely forgotten by them.

“Is that…?” Dipper said, tilting his head to the side.

Across the sign, there are burnt marks crudely made to the shape of an upside-down smiley face. The burnt marks looks fresh, with tiny embers still lit and sizzling sound emanating from it.

“Who made this?” Raz wondered, looking around to find someone that could’ve made the face.

The four stared at the face in silence for the next few minutes, before Wybie broke the silence by asking, “Guys, am I the only one getting-“

“No, you’re not.” Norman answered, already knowing what the boy is going to ask.

He felt it. They all felt it. Staring at the burnt smiley face, they somehow felt that feeling. A feeling that sent chills down their spine.

An ominous and menacing aura, one that made their hair stand on end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo boy, that ending was pretty damn ominous, wasn't it??? I hope it didn't ruin the wacky racing shenanigans the Kids did though, cuz that's the whole point for this chapter! Since last chapter was pretty intense, I thought all this fun stuff would be a good way to balance it out. It doesn't mean you should ignore the ending though; it IS pretty important.
> 
> Hope you guys like this chapter!
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreaciated!!!


	7. Codename: Penumbra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another run-of-the-mill hunt in the woods took an unexpected turn when the Mystery Kids encountered a strange ally.

**Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs**

It was a peaceful night in the forest surrounding Gravity Falls. The critters of the woods all slept soundly in the safety of their respective nests. The air was unusually cool for a summer night, giving a calming embrace to all that call the forest their home. There was almost little to no sound, not even branches creaking in the wind. The moon and stars shone above, showering the forest with their gentle glow, completing the picture-perfect panorama.

Too bad the picturesque scenery won’t last long.

“Is it still after us?!” Dipper shouted from the driver’s seat of the Mystery Cart, trying to yell over the combined engine roars of all three Mystery Rides.

Mabel, who is sitting next to her brother and holding a map of the forest, looked over her shoulder to check. Just as expected, the giant head-island is still floating behind them, chasing them at a surprising speed for something its size.

“Yep!” Mabel shouted back in reply, eyes round in panic.

“You just _had_ to throw a rock at it, don’t you Jonesy?” Wybie glared at his passenger, while trying to keep his bike stay on the left side of the Mystery Cart.

“Hey, that thing jumped out of the lake and attacked us first!” the blue-haired passenger glared back. “Besides, it’s not like I knew it would piss it off. I mean, that thing is _made_ out of rocks!”

“Thing is, _Caroline_ ,” Lili spat, sitting on the backseat of the Mystery Cart. She stared daggers at the blue-haired girl, and Coraline replied with her own dagger stare, “that thing was about ready to leave us alone when we got out of the lake.”

“But then _you_ threw that rock and got us in this mess!” Raz added, sitting next to his girlfriend. 

“Wait, this was Coraline’s fault?” Neil spoke up, sitting on the backseat of the Cart with Lili and Raz. “That’s a nice change, I guess. Usually Raz is the one that messes up.”

The psychic turned to face Neil, a dangerous look on his face. “You want me to mess _you_ up, muffin top?”

“Guys, come on,” Norman intervened, driving his motorbike-bicycle hybrid along the right side of the Cart, with Aggie on the passenger seat, “less arguing, more surviving please.”

“Fine.” Coraline frowned, but a firm look quickly replaced it. “Raz, Lili, Aggie, slow that thing down! Norman, Wybie, don’t stray too far away from Dipper. Follow his lead.”

The persons mentioned nodded in reply. Raz and Lili positioned themselves on the roof of the Mystery Cart and began raining down psi-blasts, fire balls, and just about every other psychic technique they have at their disposal. Aggie was no slouch either. Removing a leather glove from one hand, she unleashed a barrage of spectral lightning on the giant head creature.    

However, it seems the onslaught of both psychic projectiles and spectral bolts did almost nothing to the creature. It’s even just barely slowed down by the assault.

“Nerdlihc emoselddem, uoy hsurc llahs I!” The creature bellowed, striking terror to the Kids even though they didn’t understand what it said.

The giant head opened its maw wide, and out came three large boulders flying straight towards the Mystery Kids. Fortunately, all three of them missed, but it was more than enough to make jaws drop and eyes widen.

“It spits _boulders_?!” Dipper shrieked, his voice breaking as he said the last word.

Coraline looked back at the creature, clearly terrified. “Uh, yeah, dude, I’m really sorry for throwing that rock at you. That was just plain rude. So, are we cool now?” she sheepishly asked. The creature’s response was, of course, to send more boulders at them.

“Oh, _now_ you’re sorry.” Wybie said, casting an annoyed glance at his passenger.

“Well, it was worth a shot!” exclaimed Coraline.

Wybie was about to speak, when a boulder landed just beside him. His focus is then swiftly returned to the road. Speaking of focus, Raz, Lili, and Aggie’s are now turned towards destroying the boulders before it can reach them. A task easier said than done. Overtime, the boulders gradually became smaller, however, their numbers are now almost doubled, meaning more work for the three.

Suddenly, the creature spat out a large boulder speeding straight towards the Mystery Cart. Being so large and moving at such a high speed, it’s impossible for the Cart to dodge it. Faced with no other option, Raz stepped in front of Lili and quickly summoned his signature energy fists. He reared back and swung one fist, swiftly reducing the boulder to dust. He reared back again, and sent another fist flying towards the giant head. However, after just a slight resistance, the creature plowed through his energy fist, reducing it to wisps of psychic energy.

Raz froze in shock. No creature they encountered has managed to withstand a direct hit from his energy hands, yet a giant head somehow easily destroyed it simply by ramming into it.

“Okay, we’re screwed.” Lili muttered, just as shocked as her boyfriend. She stomped the roof of the Cart, screaming, “Dipper, get us out of here!”

“Where to, Mabel?” Dipper asked, frantic.

“Uh…” Mabel hurriedly scanned the map in her hands, “Turn right!”

Dipper followed his twin’s command, and in turn, Norman and Wybie followed his lead. However, as they made the turn, a boulder landed right between the Cart and Wybie’s bike, cutting the boy off and separating both him and Coraline from the rest of the group. To make matters worse, the giant head creature is now chasing after them specifically. As it rose a few meters into the air, the two quickly realized it intends to crush them flat.

“Jonesy, arm spear!” Wybie shouted, giving his left arm to the girl.

Coraline immediately reacted, opening the container behind her, taking out the contraption within and putting it over Wybie’s left arm. The sound of gears whirring came from the device as it fitted itself on his arm. Once the whirring ceased, Wybie pointed it at a nearby tree and fired off the spear tip. It struck its mark, leaving a wire connecting the tip to Wybie’s arm. The wire tensed, pulling the bike into a hard right, its two riders barely missing being flattened by the island head. Wybie then twisted the throttle as far as it can go, sending them speeding away from the head creature.

Coraline shot a glance behind her, finding that the head has found itself stuck in the ground because of the impact, struggling to get out. She smiled in relief as they sped further away, the head becoming a small figure in the distance. Suddenly, Wybie braked to a full stop, causing the girl behind him to jerk forward and slam her face to the back of his head.

“Hey, watch it, Wyborne!” Coraline gave Wybie’s shoulder a rough shove, while rubbing her sore nose.

The pre-teen didn’t respond. He simply stared wide-eyed, his eyes focused on something in front of him. Coraline followed his gaze, gasping out in shock. A cliff wall, reaching up to over twenty meters in height, stood before them. It stretched far to the left and to the right, making going around it impossible. Their only option would be to go back the way they came. Wybie hastily turned his bike around, but it was already too late.

The island-head creature is already behind them, slowly floating its way towards the two pre-teens, a threatening aura emanating from it.

“Well, I never thought ‘getting eaten by a giant head’ would be how I die. Funny how life works, huh?” Wybie smiled dryly. Suddenly, he felt his bike getting lighter as Coraline stepped in front of him.

“Wha- What’re you doing, Jonesy?!” he asked, taken aback.

“If we are going end up as dinner for that thing, I wanna make sure this is the toughest meal it’ll ever have!” Coraline replied, taking out her police cap tucked inside her satchel and putting it firmly on her head. Next, she unclipped her mace from a strap on her satchel and held the weapon tight with both hands.

Wybie felt an urge to shake his head at the girl’s attitude, but then again, that attitude is the same reason why he would willingly follow her to the ends of the earth, or at least, to these crazy monster hunts. He raised his arm spear, its spear tip aimed at the creature.

The island-head paused, as if it is stunned that these children, these _insects_ , are actually fighting back. Nevertheless, the creature launched itself forward, its monstrous maw opened wide, emitting a deafening roar. Coraline’s grip on her mace tightened as she sent the creature a defiant glare, though not without a tint of worry on her features. Wybie kept his aim steady on the creature, grimacing in fear of what’s about to come.

But the moment never came.

Something, or someone, crashed into the island-head from above, knocking the creature backwards. Coraline and Wybie’s eyes widened, their gaze shifting upwards trying to find the object that saved them. They spotted an object in the sky, their gazes following it as it landed in front of them, creating a dust cloud. Once the dust cleared out, their jaws dropped at the sight of their savior.

The object is actually a person on a motorcycle. More specifically, a teenager, looking no older than twenty, riding a hi-tech, futuristic-looking motorcycle that neither of them has ever seen before. It looks like a slightly bulkier version of a sports bike, sporting a metallic azure paint job with silver highlights. As for the teenager, he wore a plain shirt colored dark blue, topped off with a bulky-looking deep purple vest. On his hands, he wore fingerless black leather gloves. Below, he wore auburn-colored cargo pants and mountain shoes sporting the color black and dull brown. Resting upon his head is a grey baseball cap with black tribal patterns adorning it and an army green and black bandanna is wrapped around his head, covering most of his face, leaving only his pale blue eyes exposed.

However, the teenager’s most striking feature is the sword strapped to his back and the gun strapped to his left hip.  

The teenager observed the two dumbfounded pre-teens before him, his pale blue eyes looking at them up and down. The two exchanged confused glances, hoping that their savior doesn’t turn out to be hostile. The teenager abruptly turned away from them, dismounting his motorcycle and stepping towards the recovering island-head.

Coraline and Wybie are at loss for words. Is the teenager actually going to fight the enormous creature alone?

The creature, now recovered, floated forward to greet the teen. It roared, spitting out three boulders from its mouth. The teenager swiftly reacted; with his left hand he pulled out his gun, a ridiculously large metallic sapphire revolver, and pointed it towards the boulders. He fired three consecutive shots, destroying one, then another one, then the last one is destroyed just inches from the end of his gun’s barrel.

The revolver still in his left hand, he placed his right hand on the black leather-clad grip of the sword sheathed on his back, his fingers lightly brushing against its silver crescent moon-shaped hilt, shooting the creature a challenging glare. The island-head responded, raising its altitude by several feet. Coraline and Wybie saw this before; it intends to crush the teen with its underside. Instead of dodging, the teenager dashed _towards_ the creature. As the island-head threw itself forward, the teen slid under it, pulling out his sword from its sheath, revealing its pure white blade, and used it to slash the creature’s underside, narrowly missing being crushed under it.

He quickly rose back to his feet, not even breaking a sweat. With the island-head still stuck in the ground, he fired off almost a dozen shots to the creature’s back. It eventually uprooted itself however, and is quick to turn to face the teen. The teenager dashed away from it, with the island-head in hot pursuit. He ran up a tree, and used the tree to launch himself towards the island-head. The creature shot a boulder at him, but he simply sliced the boulder in half in midair with his sword, before using it to impale the island-head’s right eye.

It screeched out in pain, flailing around wildly in an attempt to throw the teenager off. However, try as it might, the teenager kept his grip around the sword’s handle tight. He aimed his revolver at the creature’s left eye, letting out three consecutive shots at point blank range, eliciting fresh screeches of pain from the island-head. He continued to shower its left eye with bullets, even after he rendered its left eye blind.

With a desperate upward flail, the island-head sent the teenager flying upwards. It opened its maw wide, intending to crush the teen with his jaws when he came down. However, the teen has other plans. Still in midair, he sheathed his sword back on his back and reached inside his bulky vest, pulling out a round container made out of glass holding some sort of black powder inside. He threw it at the monster, then held his gun at the ready, his aim focused on the container. Once the glass container was just about to enter the island-head’s maw, the teen pulled the trigger. The container exploded in a burst of white flames, completely blowing off the island-head’s lower jaw.

The island-head, battered and dazed, floated closer to the ground, looking ready to throw in the towel. But, the teen is not finished yet. With one fluid motion, he unsheathed his sword and slashed across the creature’s right eye as he came down, rendering the creature completely blind. He landed with both feet firmly on the ground, not looking even slightly worse for wear. The creature let out a garbled, angered roar, wildly flailing around while shooting out rocks from its deformed mouth. A stray rock struck the teen square in the chest, surprising both Coraline and Wybie. They were about to rush to his aid, however,  the teen simply staggered backwards, back to holding his blade and revolver in a battle stance in a matter of moments.

Coraline and Wybie could only stare in awe as the teen deftly dodged the island-head’s berserk barrage of boulders, before swiftly counterattacking with a shot from his gun or a slash from his sword, sometimes even both.

“Coraline! Wybie! There you- whoa…” the other Kids emerged from the bushes, complete with their respective vehicles, and are immediately transfixed by ongoing battle before them.

“Who is _that_?” Mabel wondered aloud.

“Wait; Raz, look,” Lili spoke, pointing at the teenager’s sword, “that silver, crescent moon-shaped hilt…”

Realization dawned upon the psychic, his eyes going wide, “No way…”

“You know him? Is he a Psychonaut?” Norman asked.

“Yes and no.” Lili answered, drawing confused looks from the others, “He’s more-or-less part of the organization, but he’s not psychic and he’s not an actual agent. He’s more like… an informant.” she explained further.

“That has got to be the most badass informant I’ve ever seen.” Neil said, still completely transfixed by the battle.

“Well, being a supernatural bounty hunter, supposedly one of the best ones in the world, might help with that.” Raz explained. “I heard no one knows his real name. Even us Psychonauts only refer to him by his codename, Penumbra.”

“How’d the Psychonauts meet a guy like him?” Dipper asked.

“We had a… rocky introduction a few years back. After a while, it’s pretty clear that we don’t want to mess with him, and he doesn’t want to mess with us. So, we made a deal;” Lili explained, “we let him hunt freely without any distractions from us, and in return, if he runs into anything psychic-related, he tells us and then walk away from it. That’s why he’s considered an informant, more or less.”

The Kids then went silent, watching in awe as the battle neared its end. The island-head, once a fearsome earth-trembling beast, is now reduced to a nearly unrecognizable floating pile of rubble. Meanwhile, the teenager is mostly unscathed; the only noticeable wound he has is a small cut on his arm from a stray rock fragment.

“…ycrem evah …esaelp.” the creature moaned in its foreign tongue, clearly too weak to go on. Even if they didn’t understood what it said, the Kids can’t help but feel pity towards the creature. However, the teenager remained indifferent, raising his gun with a finger on the trigger. A final, ringing gunshot echoed through the woods, and the creature, groaning weakly, fell to the ground, reduced to a literal pile of dust and rubble.

The Mystery Kids are left speechless, both in awe and in fear, of what the teenager is capable of. Though most of them was not a witness of how the fight began, how the fight ended, or more specifically, how the teen ended the fight, left quite an impression.

The teen put away his massive revolver back to his left hip, its barrel still smoking after the barrage of bullets he unleashed on the creature. He raised his sword to his face, inspecting its once pure white blade, now covered in muck and dirt after hacking the creature to pieces. With one swipe of his hands for each side of the blade, he returned the blade to its unstained state, and then he sheathed it. He reached for his grey baseball cap and took it off, revealing locks of silver hair spiking upwards. He threw the cap away, it snagging on the handle bar of his futuristic -looking motorcycle. He reached for the knot of his bandanna, loosening it and letting it hang loosely around his neck, leaving his face uncovered.

He turned to face the Kids, taking steps towards where they stood, a blank expression on his uncovered face. The Kids froze in place, unsure whether to thank and congratulate the teen or run away from him. The teen walked closer, thankfully without any sign of hostility; his hands never went anywhere near his sword or his gun, and taking off his bandanna might actually be a friendly gesture. However, Coraline tightened her grip on her mace, just in case. The teenager stopped just a feet or two away from them, his pale blue eyes scanning them up and down.

“Who found who?” the teen spoke for the first time, and his question could not have been vaguer.

Fortunately, Dipper quickly understood. “W-We found it.” He answered nervously.

“Really?” The teen raised a brow, looking somewhat… impressed. “Well, I’d say that you kids are way too young to do this, but that’d just make me a hypocrite. So, let me just say, it’s always nice to meet some fellow hunters.” the teen continued, offering the Kids an unexpected smile.

The Kids relaxed a little, though alarm is still present on their features. The teen proceeds to say, “Hey, it’s okay, I won’t bite.”

“Sure… but you still slash and shoot.” Dipper replied.

A light chuckle escaped the teen. “That’s only to the big bad monsters. Honestly, loosen up.”

Cautiously, and just a bit awkwardly, the tense look faded from their faces, replaced by sheepish smiles. All, except for a certain blue-haired girl, who kept her mace in her hand. Dipper took a step forward, a look of awe replacing his sheepish smile. “Dude… let me just say… beating that giant head thing… all those stuff you just did… that was _insane_.” 

The teen simply shrugged. “Eh, it’s not much when you got used to it. We’re lucky the rest of it didn’t show up.”

At this, the Kids’ eyes widened. “Th-The rest?!” Wybie shrieked. “You mean there’s more?!”

“Yep.” the teen nodded with a dry smile. “Earth golems are tricky bastards. One minute you’re fighting a giant leg, the next frickin minute you’re going head-to-head with a goddamned giant dirt man.” the teen blinked, realizing that he just cussed in front of children. “Ah, pardon my language; I was doing some business in some sleazy bar down in Reno before I came here. Might’ve rubbed off on me.”

“It’s all cool man, we’re no angels either.” Mabel chirped in.

“So, what brings you here in the first place?” Dipper asked, casting a curious glance at the teen’s peculiar bike.

“Got an anonymous tip saying there’s a town up in Oregon crammed with just about every weird monster you can think of, and then some. Now, I don’t usually listen to some random guy in a hoodie, especially about business, but I don’t really have anything going on and it doesn’t really hurt to look.” the teen explained. “I admit, I was pretty skeptical the entire way over here. I mean, an entire town, _crammed_? That’s a bounty hunter’s equivalent to a mountain of gold!” he finished with a light chuckle.

“But,” he started again, glancing on the pile of rubble that was once the giant head, “considering I just killed something that you supposedly can only find in the Middle East, this might not be such a waste of time after all.” the teen ended with an amused smile.

Norman, wearing a blank expression, bluntly stated, “You have _no_ idea.”

The teen’s smile disappeared. “Pardon?”

 “Dude, Gravity Falls is, like, the Bermuda Triangle times ten!” Dipper exclaimed, his mouth curled into a wide smile and his eyes practically shining with a passion that the other Kids are all-too familiar with.

The teen raised a brow, intrigued. “Really?”

“Yeah man, really!” Dipper said. “We’ve been dealing with all things bizarre and supernatural all summer!”

“And by we, he means me and my twin brother here.” Mabel joined in, wrapping an arm around Dipper’s shoulders. “Those newbies over there joined in a couple of weeks ago.” she said, gesturing to the seven other kids with mock-disinterest.

“Hey!” responded Raz. “Who you calling newbies, newbie?”

As he spoke up, the teen’s attention went to Raz, and to Lili standing next to him. His eyes narrowed on the couple, and Raz can faintly sense the gears whirring in his head. His eyes went round in surprise for only a split second, before turning to the other kids and asking, “Are you kids aware that you have two very special people in your team?”

The other kids noticed his observation of Raz and Lili, so they quickly understood who he was referring to. “Yes.” Wybie answered for the group. “He even gives us a daily reminder, even though we really didn’t need one.”

The Kids, except for Raz, snickered at the joke, and even the teen wore an amused smile. The smile quickly fades, giving the two psychics a serious look. “You two know about my deal with your kind, right?” he asked.

“Uhh, yes, sir.” Raz quickly answered.

The teen’s eyes narrowed. “You won’t get in my way?”

“No, sir.”

“Good.” the teen said, a smile returning to his face. “But, since we’re fellow hunters here, I hope I can count on you if I ever need help, Agent…?”

“Oh, I’m Agent Raz Aquato and that’s Agent Lili Zanotto. It’s an honor to meet you, sir.” Raz replied, earning a good-natured chuckle from the teen.

“And I’m Mabel, and this is my _little_ twin brother, Dipper.” Mabel grinned, ruffling up Dipper’s hair, an act that Dipper visibly doesn’t appreciate. “And that’s Norman, Neil, Aggie, Wybie and Coraline.” she said, pointing to each of her friends.

“And we’re the Mystery Kids!” Neil exclaimed, raising both of his hands into the air.

The teen raised a brow in amusement. “The Mystery Kids, huh? So, which one of you is the leader?”

“That would be Raz and Jonesy here; they’re the co-leaders of this little club.” Wybie answered, putting a hand on Coraline’s shoulder.

The teen turned his attention to Coraline, giving her a curious look. “ _Jonesy_?”

The blue-haired girl brushed off Wybie’s hand and gave him a quick glare, before addressing the silver-haired teen with a blank expression. “It’s Coraline.” she explained, brief and quick.

The teen leaned back, putting both hands behind his head. “Well, now I know who to talk to if things get ugly.”

“What about you?” Coraline asked, her eyes narrowed on the teen. “What’s your name?”

The Kids’ eyes widened, turning to face Coraline in shock. The relaxed expression on the teen’s face disappeared, his hands lowered back to his sides, his left one in particular hovering dangerously close to his gun. “What the heck, Coraline?!” Raz hissed, though it was ignored by the girl.

“And why do you want to know?” the teen asked back, his eyes narrowed as well.

“Well, Penumbra just sounds silly to me.” Coraline replied, the edge of her lips curled into a tiny smirk.

“Really? _That’s_ your excuse?” the teen scoffed, looking almost as if he is disappointed. However, his expression softened. “I guess you kids can call me… Felix.”

“Felix, huh?” Coraline repeated, still giving the teen a hostile stare. “That a fake name too?”

Felix returned the stare with one of his own. “Wouldn’t you like to know.” he said. Everyone was silent for the next few moments, as Coraline and Felix shot intense stares at each other.

“Soooo, Felix, right?” Mabel chimed in with a bubbly smile, interrupting Coraline and Felix’s staring contest. “Y’know, this is getting pretty late. You should come over to our place and spend the night!”

That caught both Felix and Coraline off guard.

“What?”

“What?”

“I mean, unless you already have another place to stay the night…”

Felix was utterly dumbfounded, and so does Coraline, but hers is more of an angry kind. “Uh… no, not really, but-“ he managed to speak out but Mabel quickly cut him off.

“Great! Then you’re staying at our headquarters for the night!” she grinned.

“Wha-? Mabel!” Coraline scolded, but her words fell on deaf ears.

“Come on Felix, I insist!” Mabel pressed on.

“You sure you’re okay with it?” Felix asked with a raised brow.

“’Course we’re fine with it! I mean, you pretty much just saved our lives! This is the least we can do.” Mabel replied, nodding cheerfully.

Coraline sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Dipper, please stop your sister.”

“I guess he did just save our lives.” Dipper thoughtfully said, with no sign that he heard what Coraline said. “I’m fine if it’s just for one night, I guess. And if Stan’s not okay with it, you can just give him some money in the morning.”

“Dipper!” Coraline shot him a shocked glare, but it went unnoticed by the boy.

Meanwhile, Felix gave the twins an incredulous gaze. “Seriously?”

“Yes, we are _very_ serious.” Mabel said, putting on a face that is more silly than serious. “Right, guys?”

Coraline gritted her teeth, glaring daggers at Mabel. “Mabel, we are _not_ -“

“Sure, we’re okay with it.” Norman spoke with a warm smile, cutting off Coraline. “You might be a bit used to it, but saving our lives is a pretty big deal, y’know.”

“And you can tell us some of the adventures you had! That would be awesome!” added Raz.

Meanwhile, Coraline threw her hands into the air, letting out a silent, frustrated, “ _What?!_ ”

“Uh… if you guys are okay with it, then… yeah, I guess…” Felix finally agreed, still looking thoroughly confused with the sudden turn of events. “Let me just… go get my bike first.”

As the silver-haired teen walked towards his bike, the Kids flocked around him with eager looks on their faces. All, except for Coraline, who stayed rooted on her spot, her hands still raised and her mouth hanging open in exasperation. Quickly, her mouth turns into a thin line and her eyes narrowed on the group. She stomped over to them, grabs Wybie’s arm, and roughly dragged him to the sidelines.

“Wha- hey! Easy, Jonesy!” he exclaimed as Coraline dragged him.

“You’re seriously taking that guy to the Shack? Are you _nuts_?!” she said, keeping her voice to a whisper.

“Sheesh, chill out, Coraline. It’s probably just for a night. What’s wrong with you?” Wybie calmly replied. Somehow, the lack of alarm in his tone greatly irritates the blue-haired girl.

“’What’s wrong with _me_?’ What’s wrong with all of _you_?! We’ve only known this guy for _five minutes_ and you’re already taking him back to the Shack?!”

“Well, he _did_ save our lives, the two of us specifically, and he seems like a nice guy overall.”

“But we don’t know anything about this guy! Besides the fact that he’s apparently a supernatural bounty hunter that’s so good that even the Psychonauts doesn’t wanna mess with him.” Coraline found she said those words with more spite than she intended.

There was a short silence as Wybie narrowed his eyes on Coraline. “Wait a sec,” he spoke, seemingly coming to a realization, “you don’t trust him, do you?”

Coraline blinked. “Gee, I wonder what gave _that_ away.”

“Here’s the thing with you, Coraline,” Wybie continued, his voice strangely serious, “ever since your little showdown with the Other Mother, it’s been almost impossible for you to trust anyone anymore.”

Coraline blinked again, but this time for a completely different reason. “No, I don’t.” she said slowly, secretly not quite believing her own words.

Wybie gave her a look. “Second day of school, you gave Mary Fisher a bloody nose because she tried to hug you.”

“I thought she was about to strangle me! It was legitimate self-defense! I mean, that girl was huge.”  Coraline reasoned.

The look remained on Wybie’s face. “Your first gym period, you nearly broke Coach Burton’s arm when he tried to hand you a baseball bat.”

“He was practically swinging it at me! I was surprised, okay?”

Wybie sighed. “And here’s another thing about you; you don’t even realize you’re doing it!”

Coraline opened her mouth to object, but she quickly closed them again, failing to find the correct words to say. She averted her gaze to her feet, avoiding Wybie’s uncharacteristically piercing pale green eyes. Remembering back, she realized; the awkward, twitchy boy before her might have a point. Nearly three years has passed since she first moved to the Pink Palace and to a new school, yet Wybie remained the only person she considered a real friend. Maybe she does have just a little bit of a trust issue.

But that is not the issue here. The real issue here is the fact they are letting a complete stranger stay at their headquarters!

“To this day, I’m still surprised you got along with Norman and the other so quickly.” Wybie said with a fond smile, no doubt remembering their first meeting.

“But,” his smile disappeared, his tone taking a gloomier turn, “some days, well, I just feel like maybe you don’t _really_ trust us. Sometimes… I feel like you don’t even trust me…”

Coraline looked up from the ground, shocked. “Wybie, I-“ she started, but quickly stopped herself. The _real_ issue takes priority. “Look, this is completely unrelated. ‘Felix’ is just a stranger we literally just met and we should-“

“Is it?” Wybie cuts her off with a question. “Is it _really_ unrelated?”

“Yes. Completely.” She replied.

“Do I need to remind you how we first met Dipper, Mabel, and everyone else?” he asked, knowing full well that Coraline still remembers. “They were just strangers we met in the woods. But you trusted them, and look where we are now; hunting monsters and being true companions and all that.”

He stared at Coraline dead in the eye. “That all happened because you trusted them. Felix saved our _lives_. Everyone trusts him, even _Dipper_ , and God knows he’s got it worse than you. So why won’t you trust him?”

“It’s not… I’m just… just…“ Coraline knew the reason why. She knew the exact words to answer the question. But thanks to an idiotic spark of her own pride, the words never left her lips, until it was too late.

Wybie shook his head, shooting her a disappointed stare, before walking off to rejoin the group. Coraline watched glumly as Wybie greeted the group with a smile and his usual awkward neck-rubbing. Silently, she cursed her stupid spark of pride. She knew the reason why she didn’t trust Felix, and it doesn’t have anything with her slight trust issues. In fact, it doesn’t have anything to do with her at all. She sighed, screaming out the reason in her head.

_I’M JUST WORRIED ABOUT YOU GUYS!_

Calming down with a huff, Coraline clipped her mace back to her satchel, trailing behind the group as they made their way to the Mystery Shack.

* * *

 

“So, did you check out the place I told you about?”

“I’m calling from there, actually.”

“Really? Man, you’re fast! So, what do you think?”

“This place is really something else. You weren’t kidding when you said this place is the Bermuda Triangle times ten. I’m actually considering making this my permanent hunting grounds.”

“See? You should listen to mysterious hooded guys more often!”

“Yeah, no thanks. I’m lucky this one pays off.”

“Oh, how’s shoo- I mean, the twins? How are they?”

“The twins? They’re… fine, I guess. Wait, how’d you know them? Wha- hello? Hello? Did he just hang up?”

“Psych! I’m still here, bro!”

“You little son of a- well, thanks anyways. My clients are going to be _very_ happy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introducing another OC of mine, Felix! 
> 
> So this is the last of the chapters that I have already posted on FF. After this, I'll start posting some brand new chapters, so be on the look out for that! Hope you enjoyed this one!
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated!!!


	8. Codenames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel has a little fun with codenames.

~~~~~~~~**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.**

Mabel peered into the living room. Inside, she can see Dipper, Norman, Coraline, Raz, and Lili sitting on the couch, watching tv. Pacifica is also there, but she's more interested in the magazine in her hands than the tv. Mabel stroked her chin, considering. It's not perfect - there's one too many people in the room, for example - but she can work with this. After all, she  _has_ been itching to do this for a while.

With a grin, she bolted into the room.

"Guys, we've been _compromised_!"

Everyone immediately tensed, except for Pacifica, who simply glanced up, saw the look on Mabel's face, sighed, then went back to reading.

"Compromised? Mabel, what happened?" Dipper asked, concerned.

Mabel ignored him, continuing her act. "From now on, we'll be needing codenames." She gestured grandly to herself. "I'll be Eagle One."

The concern on Dipper's face was quickly replaced with a scowl. He flopped back down on the couch, muttering something about almost getting a heart attack.

Grinning, Mabel pointed at Norman. "Norman is... 'been there, done that'."

Norman blinked. "W-what...?"

"Pacifica is... 'currently doing that'." Mabel raised her hand for a high five which Pacifica wordlessly returned without even looking up from her magazine.

"Lili is... 'it happened once in a dream'."

"Excuse me?!" Lili shrieked, her face blushing a bright red.

"Raz is... 'if I had to pick a dude'."

Raz scratched the back of his neck. "Uh... thanks, I guess?"

"And Dipper is... Eagle Two." Mabel grinned and pointed at Dipper, waiting for him to finish the joke.

"... Not saying it, sis."

Mabel pouted. "Aww, Dipper! Play along a little, bro!"

"Nope."

"Forgetting someone?" Coraline spoke up. "What about me? What do I get?"

"You... want to know?" Lili raised an eyebrow at Coraline, still blushing slightly.

"I'm curious." Coraline replied with a shrug.

Mabel was deep in thought for a few moments, looking at Coraline up and down, before she snapped her fingers. "You are... 'I'd be lying if I said I never thought about it'."

Coraline chuckled. "Flattered."

"Okay, I just got what we're talking about." Norman turned to Mabel. "Mabel, how am I 'been there, done that'? What the hell does that mean?"

* * *

Wybie bolted into the room. "Guys, we've been compromised!"

"Mabel already pulled that one, Wybes."

"Dammit, Mabel! I found that first!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been a while since I posted anything. I've been trying to write on a more regular basis again and I'm hoping to post at least once a month. 
> 
> Here's a funny thing I thought up a while ago based on a meme from Tumblr. The one after this should be a little more serious.
> 
> P.S. the joke with Norman is that she dated a Norman once, just not this Norman.


	9. Critical Roll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With almost everyone in her adventuring party down for the count, Coralynn the Barbarian resorts to drastic measures to finish the quest.

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured here.**

 

Coralynn peered up from behind the rock that she’s currently using for cover, looking at the massive, ancient red dragon that her party had been battling. It is currently hovering above the pool of lava that it emerged from, roaring furiously. They’ve been battling for quite some time, and it shows; the fearsome dragon looks badly beaten, but she couldn’t tell just how close the dragon is to being dead.

Coralynn turned to her companion, Raziel, who is taking cover beside her. “We’re getting close. What’re our options?” she asked.

“To be perfectly frank, not much.” Raziel replied, his gaze anxiously fixed on the dragon. “Our druid and gunsmith are unconscious, our warlock and sorcerer are out of spells, our cleric has been literally paralyzed in fear all this time, and I’m pretty sure we’re out of potions.”

Coralynn frowned. “I asked for options, not bad news.”

“Well, if you want options, why don’t you think one up?! I’m a bit busy right now!” Raziel barked back. At that moment, the dragon let loose a fire breath directed at the pair, only for the jet of fire to be blocked by a barrier. However, Raziel looks visibly strained, and the barrier seems to be weakening.

Coralynn looked around, the situation being exactly as Raziel described it. Lilian and Nephros, the party’s sorcerer and warlock respectively, are ducking behind the cover of a boulder halfway across the battlefield. With them are the unconscious forms of Maybell and Wranbek, the party’s druid and gunsmith. Lastly, Niall, the party’s cleric, is cowering behind a rock all the way back across the battlefield.

Like Raziel said, not a lot of options.

Coralynn growled. “Ah, screw it!”

Without warning, she bolted out from her cover and charged straight at the red dragon. Her companions could only watch, speechless, as the barbarian sprinted at full speed with both swords drawn. With a fearsome battle cry, she leapt at the dragon and-

* * *

 

“Wait, you’re trying to do _what_?!” Dipper asked, surprised.

“I jump from the cliff at the dragon and try to attack it with both of my swords.” Coraline repeated. “The cliff’s edge is within my movement speed. I can do it, right?”

The others gathered around the table simply watched wide-eyed as Coraline’s insane plan unfolds in front of them.

Dipper is still slightly taken aback. “Well, I mean, you can certainly try.”

“Then I try it.”

“In that case, roll an athletics check to see if you succeed the jump.” Dipper said, regaining his composure.

“Coraline, what the hell are you doing?!” Lili exclaimed, her fingers pulling at her hair.

“Killing this thing!” Coraline shot back, rolling the 20-sided die.

“Oh god, can I just… can I cast Featherfall on her?” Lili asked desperately.

“Coralynn is just outside of the spell’s range, unfortunately.” Dipper replied with a somewhat sympathetic smile. Lili leaned back with a look of frustration.

“DM, I got a twenty six on that athletics check.” Coraline said after a quick check on her character sheet.

“ _Twenty six_?!” Wybie parroted in disbelief.

“Yeah, I rolled a nineteen and I have a plus seven on athletics.” Coraline explained.

Dipper simply nodded. “Alright, so… ‘With a fearsome battle cry, Coralynn leapt from the cliff, over the lava pool not even a hundred feet below, at the red dragon. The dragon roared, seemingly in response to Coralynn’s battle cry. The swords Coralynn wields in both hands almost glows from the light and heat emanating from the lava below as she swings them downward.’ Go ahead and make an attack roll.”

Coraline quickly threw the twenty-sided die. The table froze as they saw the result.

“Natural twenty.” Dipper stated with an amused smile. “That’s a critical hit.”

“Jonesy, you can actually do this! You can kill it!” Wybie cheered.

“Better get some good rolls on this one, you madwoman!” Raz added enthusiastically.

With a grin, Coraline rolled the dice, but her face fell when she saw the result. “That’s… twenty points of slashing damage.”

The table let out a collective groan.

“You doubled it for the critical?” Dipper quickly asked.

“Yeah.”

Dipper silently nodded, the expression on his face carefully kept neutral. He leaned down, scribbling something down behind the screen separating his side of the table from the others. He looked up at Coraline, now with a smirk on his face, and said, “How do you want to do this?”

The table, minus Coraline, went hysterical.

Wybie grabbed Coraline by both of her shoulders and started shaking her. “You did it! You did it!”

“W-wait wha-? W-what did I do?” Coraline looked around, flabbergasted. “How do I want to do what? What does he mean?”

“It’s this thing Dipper does.” Norman explained. “When you manage to land the killing blow on a boss fight, he says that phrase.”

“How do you want to do this!” Mabel added, pumping both fists into the air.

“Right.” Dipper said, still smirking. “Since you managed to land the killing blow, _you_ get to decide what that killing blow is like.”

“Oh. _Oh_. Okay.” Coraline grinned. “Alright then, so…”

* * *

 

At the last second, Coralynn switched both of her swords into a reverse grip. The dragon lunged forward for a bite, but she managed to plant both feet onto its upper jaw, dodging the bite. With that foothold, she launched herself forward again along its snout. Finally, with one last battle cry, she plunged her swords downward into both of the dragon’s eyes.

A roar of pain and anger echoed throughout the cavern. The dragon wildly flailed its head around trying to shake Coralynn off. She held on to the swords with all her might, refusing to let go. After all, she’s not finished. Not yet.

As the dragon swung its head upwards, she pulled her swords from the dragon’s eyes. She let the momentum of the swing toss her up into the air. Grinning, she switched her swords back to a normal grip and looked at her target directly below her: the dragon’s gaping maw. With both swords at the ready, she dived down and disappeared into the dragon’s maw.

Coralynn’s companions, at least the ones who watched the entirety of her brave stunt, were left stunned. The barbarian just _willingly_ dived into a _dragon’s mouth_. They already knew she, the brave warrior that she is, had a penchant for doing crazy things, but this simply takes it to a whole new level. Hell, even the bravest and most courageous warriors would give simply _fighting_ a dragon a second thought. Diving _willingly_ inside the jaws of one? That’s what commonly known as _suicide_. Just what on earth is she planning?

* * *

 

“Get on with it, Coraline.” Lili interrupted, unamused.

“Alright, alright. Sheesh.” Coraline cleared her throat. “Suddenly…”

* * *

 

The dragon let out a strangled cry of pain. It looked around blindly for anything that could hurt it, only to let out another cry of pain. The dragon now started flailing and flying around frantically, letting out cries of pain all the while. It started flying around the cavern chamber, panicked, _desperate_ to stop whatever it is that’s harming it. Coralynn’s companions watched the dragon’s increasingly erratic behavior as it dawned on them what Coralynn’s plan is.

Finally, with one last pathetic cry, the dragon’s movement stilled, and it’s lifeless body started plummeting down to the lava pool below.

As it fell, a pair of swords burst out from its back, slicing down in an X shape. Moments after, Coralynn bursts through the wound, leaping over the lava pool and landing back on the cliff where she first leapt. Her companions emerged from their cover one by one, approaching the barbarian in awe. She’s covered in dragon blood and panting heavily, but a confident smile remained on her face. Behind her, a lava spout shot up as the dragon’s body finally fell in the lava pool.

Coralynn grinned. “Mission accomplished.”

* * *

 

The table erupted with cheers and applause as Coraline’s story came to an end. Coraline herself leaned back with a satisfied smile.

“I think that’s a good place to end our session.” Dipper stated.

“Wow, that was crazy.” Neil exhaled in relief. “That’s easily, like, top five best moments in the campaign.”

Wybie chuckled. “You said it. Too bad my guy went down so early, though. I had some pretty cool stuff I wanna try out against a dragon. Who knows when we get to fight a dragon again?”

“Don’t go give Dipper any ideas now.” Norman gave Dipper a knowing look. Dipper replied with a mischievous smile.

Dipper turned to Coraline. “So,” he started with a smug smile, “what do you think of our little make-believe game now?”

Coraline briefly considered putting up a front, but after the amount of fun that she had, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

She chuckled in defeat, and asked, “When’s the next one?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guess who’s back?
> 
> I’m a bit obsessed about D&D right now, so I thought I’d write a quick story about the kids enjoying this awesome game. It’s pretty fun writing this while writing scenarios for a D&D campaign I’m running.
> 
> The ‘how do you want to do this’ line is from a show called Critical Role, by the way. It’s pretty much the best D&D show ever. You guys should check it out.


	10. A Mature Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raz woke up late at night and stumbled upon something quite unexpected.

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured here.**

**A Mature Girl**

Raz never understood why Lili always insisted on being so ‘mature’ all the time. Sure, being mature could be pretty useful since most of the team (including himself) can be literal five-year olds at times, but all the time? To him that sounds like a surefire way to an early grave. He voiced this particular concern of his once, but she simply brushed it off.

As a side effect of her insistence to be ‘mature’, he observed that she has forced herself to dislike things that are generally seen as ‘childish’ and ‘immature’. One such thing is cartoons. So, when Mabel tried getting Lili to watch a cartoon show that she is currently super into, it ended as well you’d expect; with a pouting Mabel and an irritated Lili. The event was quite memorable, but after a few days passed, it has completely slipped from his mind.

Until tonight.

He woke up in the middle of the night with a dry throat. He’s not quite sure the exact time when he woke up, but it’s definitely quite late. Eager to resume his sleep, he exited his room and made his way to the kitchen for a glass of water. However, halfway to his destination, he passed by Lili’s room, finding the door to be slightly ajar. Out of curiosity, he took a peek inside and all traces of sleep immediately left him.

Lili sat in front of her desk, all curled up in her blanket, staring intently at her open laptop screen, which, if he’s seeing correctly, is playing the same cartoon show that Mabel showed her a few days ago.

Raz could not believe his own two eyes. He rubbed them, expecting that he is simply seeing things thanks to his half-awake state, but what he saw remained the same. It’s still his girlfriend, invested in a children’s cartoon show and- did she just _giggle_?!

She did! It was incredibly brief, and she even tried to hide it with a hand, but she did! Lili _freaking_ Zanotto just _giggled_ watching a _children’s cartoon show_!

Right then and there, Raz had an almost-uncontrollable urge to let out an inhuman squeal at the sight before him. He managed to contain himself long enough to quickly cover his mouth with a hand. He couldn’t help it; it was just such an adorable sight. Lili looks like she’s really enjoying herself, too. It’s really rare for her to be that way. The only other time he saw her be like that was when she was with her dad or her plants, and with everything that’s been going on, she didn’t really have much time to be with either. It’s just… really nice to see her like that.

And that’s why Raz absolutely do not want to ruin this for her. Cautiously, with a hand still covering his mouth, he began backing away from the door as silently as possible. One step, two steps, three ste-

_Creak!_

Raz froze. Lili tensed.

_Damn Shack and it’s creaky floorboards!_

Lili whirled around, eyes wide. Raz can only stand there and chuckle nervously.

“I’m not bothering you, am I?” he sheepishly asked.

Even in the dark, Raz can Lili’s face gaining a very dark shade of red. He braced himself for the worst.

Lili flicked her hand, and the door to her room slams shut.

Raz blinked. He was… honestly expecting something much, much worse than that.

Raz approached the closed door and, very gently, knocked on it. “Hey, Lil.”

No response.

Raz briefly considered contacting her telepathically, but it didn’t take him long to realize how bad of an idea that is.

“Look, I did not mean to spy on you like that. It was a complete accident. I’m sorry, okay? Can you open the door so we can talk this out?”

There was a long silence after that, but eventually, the door gently swung open. Raz peered inside, spotting Lili sitting on the floor near the head of her bed. She has her knees against her chest and is glaring quite intensely at the floor. Raz made her way to Lili, sitting down next to her. Lili immediately shifted her glare to Raz. It wasn’t the first time Lili gave him that look, but it never fails to make him nervous each time.

“Explain before I give you a black eye.” Lili said curtly.

Raz doubted she would actually give him a black eye, but he knew better than to try. “I woke up because I was thirsty, so I got up to get a drink downstairs. On the way, I noticed your door was open and I saw, um, that.”

Raz didn’t miss how Lili fidgeted when he said that. He decided not to bring it up just yet.

“So, yeah, that’s my story. It’s still up to you if I get a black eye or not.” Raz finished.

Lili contemplated on the tale, before finally sighing. “No, you’re not getting a black eye.”

Raz felt like he should be relieved, but with how strange Lili is acting, he couldn’t bring himself to feel that yet.

“H-How long…?” Lili suddenly asked. “How long were you watching me?”

“Not a lot, I think? I mean, I saw you giggle, but that’s about it.” Raz replied. Lili moaned and buried her face in her palm in response. “Hey, it’s okay! You’re cute when you giggle.”

“It’s _not_ okay!” came Lili’s muffled reply.

Raz frowned in confusion. “You don’t like having an adorable giggle?”

“No, not that!” Lili said, uncovering her face. “I mean, it’s not okay that you saw… t- _that_!” she gestured towards her now-closed laptop on the desk.

Lili leaned back, sighing. “I really shouldn’t be mad at you. This is all on me. I shouldn’t have been watching that in the first place.”

Raz glanced up at the laptop, then back down at Lili.“Why not?” he asked. He already has a suspicion of why, but it’s better to make sure.

“W-well, because it’s a cartoon for small kids and- I’m a _Psychonaut agent_ , Raz! Hell, I’m Truman Zanotto’s daughter! I shouldn’t be- There’s just things I’m not supposed to-”

So it is about that. This needs to stop.

“Lili, Lili, _calm_ _down_.” Raz gently took hold of Lili’s shoulder. “Okay, so you _are_ all of those things, but so am I! Well, minus the daughter part. Plus, we’re the same age, and you don’t see me being so mature _all_ the time, do you?”

Lili curled up against herself a little more. “I’m _not_ you, Raz. I’m not like that. I don’t think I _can_ be like that.”

“Lili…” Raz frowned sadly. He sucked in a breath, his face now determined. “Okay, the point I’m trying to make here is that there is nothing that you’re not supposed to do.”

Lili blinked, considering Raz’s words.

“Except for illegal things, and even then you can still make an argument about it.” Raz quickly added.

Lili couldn’t help but smile ever so slightly. “Nothing I’m not supposed to do, huh…”

“Exactly. If you want to watch cartoons for kids, then feel free to do it. Doesn’t mean that you’re immature for doing it. It just means you have a childlike side you like to indulge once in a while. Nothing wrong with that.” Raz ended with a smile.

“Yeah… yeah, I guess it is.” Lili uncurled herself, nodding in agreement to Raz’s words.

“In fact, isn’t the act of avoiding certain things so you don’t look childish is childish in itself? I mean, if you’re really mature, then you can just enjoy pretty much anything without caring too much about what that thing is labelled by-”

“Raz.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

Lili smiled, which is just great to see after all of that. “I… feel better now. About all of this. Thanks, Raz.”

It’s only right for Raz to smile back. “No problem.”

Lili leaned towards Raz and, with a moment of hesitation, rested her head on Raz’s shoulder. Raz’s smile grew wider and he leaned back, content to enjoy the moment. His eyes wandered around, eventually landing on the Lili’s laptop. A question began to form in his head.

“You know, I’m actually curious,” Raz started, “just exactly what kind of cartoon would catch the interest of one Lili Zanotto?”

Through the dim light, Raz can see Lili is blushing again. “I-it’s nothing _that_ interesting, really.”

“I still want to know, though.” he replied.

“Ah, um, well…” Lili looked down nervously at her fingers. “I guess, the main character - she likes plants and gardening a lot, so there’s that. And one of her friends is super funny, I like him a lot. And the art style is just really cute and nice to look at. But the show is more than just cute and funny stuff! There’s this episode where the funny guy got into an accident, and the show treated it in a really interesting and realistic way. There’s this other one where the main character’s grandma died. The message in that episode was super touching and just- just _so good_! Oh, and there’s this other one where-”

Lili caught herself as she realized what she’s doing. Her cheeks gained a red tint once more. Raz simply motioned her to keep going.

“Ah, so, yeah, that’s… that’s more or less why I like it.” Lili concluded, rubbing her arms. Raz raised an eyebrow. “Can’t really say more. You know… spoilers and all that.”

Raz smirked. “Is that so?”

“Yeah.” Lili pouted and it was so adorable _good god what did he do to deserve her_.

“Alright, if you say so.” Raz shrugged, amused. “I guess you’ve already said enough. I’m _definitely_ interested in watching it now.”

He saw Lili’s eyes simply light up. “Y-you do?!”

“Of course! We could even watch it together.” he offered. “Maybe over lunch?”

Lili blinked. “Lunch?” she stated incredulously, then chuckled. “You know, usually you have dates on dinner, Raz.”

“This counts as a date?” Not that he’s adverse to a nice date with Lili, but he’s not really sure that eating lunch while watching cartoons would count as one.

“Well, if we make it one, then yeah?” That’s not a bad reason. He could go with that.

“Then a date it is. I’m looking forward to it.” Raz smiled. Lili smiled back. He feels… really giddy all of a sudden.

“Oh, and Raz?” Lili quickly asked. “ _Please_ don’t tell the others about this, _especially_ not to Mabel.”

Raz grinned. “I swear I will not speak a word of this to anyone.”  

“Okay.” Lili sighed, relieved. “Thanks.”

“Anyway, I’m still kinda thirsty so,” he gestured towards the door, “I’m gonna head down, grab a drink, and go back to bed.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Lili said as she sort-of stumbled her way to sit on the bed. Raz stood up himself and, after leaning forward to give Lili a quick kiss on the cheeks, made his way to the door.

That was… definitely something. Not what he expected to happen when he woke up a few minutes ago. Not to say it was bad. It was good. It was nice to see Lili just enjoying something that she likes. It was great that he managed to help her loosen up, even if it’s just a little. He even got a date set for lunch tomorrow. So, yeah, it was pretty good.

“Wait a second.” Lili’s voice stopped him in his tracks, just a few steps away from the door. He heard soft footsteps against the wooden floor approaching him, stopping just behind him.

“Raz, you said you ‘won’t speak a word of this to anyone’. Does that mean you think you can tell this to other people through, let’s say, _telepathy_?”

Ah. Dammit. He genuinely thought he got away with that.

He turned around, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

“Well…”

Raz returned to his room that night with a cold glass of water and a stinging, red handprint on his left cheek. Obviously he was just joking, but it was totally worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raz is a little shit. He can’t help it.
> 
> So this was originally a prompt sent in by Tumblr user cartoonfumes. I never actually finished it and I felt bad about it so I decided to turn it into a full fic. 
> 
> By the way, there’s a bunch of new people over at Tumblr taking their chances at making a second MK episode. Go and give them some love! There’s some really great people involved in the project already. Find them over at https://themysterykidsreturn.tumblr.com/ !
> 
> P.S. gonna try to go back to my usual upload schedule, which is twice a month. Wish me luck!


	11. Day of Birth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel has an important question for the Mystery Kids.

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured here.**

**Day of Birth**

“When is everyone’s birthdays?” Mabel asked with a huge grin. Half of the table erupted with annoyed groans.

“Mabel, _that’s_ the reason you called for an urgent meeting?” Dipper frowned.

Mabel crossed her arms, smiling smugly. “Yes, and before you say anything, _yes_ , this _is_ urgent.”

“I’m outta here.” Lili huffed, rising from her seat.

“No, no, no, wait!” Mabel exclaimed, her arms flailing about. That was enough to give Lili pause.

Mabel took a deep breath, and then addressed everyone. “Guys, we’ve been together for a while now, but somehow we don’t know each other’s birthday yet!” She gestured proudly to herself. “As the head of the friendship division in the Mystery Kids-“

“ _Self-appointed_ head of a division that doesn’t exist.” Dipper cut in with a smirk.

Mabel briefly shot Dipper a sour look, before continuing. “I simply cannot let that slide. That is the reason why I gathered you all here; so we can know each other’s birthdays!”

“Mabel, can’t you just, I dunno, ask us one by one? Instead of doing this?” Coraline spoke up, her hand propping up her head against the tabletop.

“No!” Mabel replied. “If I do that, then _I’m_ gonna be the only one that knows all of your birthdays! The point of this is so that we _all_ know each other’s birthdays.”

Mabel pointed at her brother who is seated next to her. “Dipper, we start from you!”

Dipper rolled his eyes, though not without a small hint of amusement on his face. “August 31st. That’s me and Mabel’s birthday.”

“Next up, Neil!” Mabel said, now eagerly holding a notebook and a pen at the ready.

“My birthday is on April 26th!” Neil enthusiastically replied. It’s quite clear that he is the only one that shares Mabel’s level of excitement for this meeting.

“Oooh, a Taurus. Nice.” Mabel remarked, writing the date down on her notebook. She gestured at Norman, who is sitting next to Neil. “Norman?”

“Um, mine is October 13th.” Norman answered.

“Whoa, seriously?” Raz leaned forward. “What, is it on a Friday too?”

Norman scratched the back of his neck. “Uh… yeah, actually.”

The table immediately went silent. They all simply stared at Norman, surprised. “Yeah, I know, i-it’s uh… it’s pretty freaky.” Norman nervously broke the silence.

“And _somehow_ your parents are surprised that you can see ghosts.” Coraline said. Norman can only shrug in response.

“Huh… okay then…” Mabel wrote down the date on her notebook. “And… Wybie?”

“January 17th.” Wybie replied. “Man, that’s… kind of a downhill after Norman’s.”

“A classic Wybourne move.” Coraline smirked.

Wybie narrowed his eyes at Coraline. “I-it’s not like _you_ can do better, Jonesy.”

“Speaking of…?” Mabel asked, having written down Wybie’s birthday.

Coraline looked around at the expectant eyes from almost everyone at the table, before shrugging. “Guess it’s just a birthday. November 4th.”

“Alright. Always figured you’re a Scorpio.” Mabel said as she wrote. “Raz?”

“February 7th for me.” Raz answered, holding a hand to his chest.

Mabel wrote it down. “Okay. Finally…”

Everyone turned their attention to Lili, who spent the entire meeting silent with her arms crossed, looking as if she wants to be anywhere but here.

“Lili, _please_.” Mabel pleaded, putting on her best begging puppy eyes.

Lili remains unfazed. “I’ll have you know that both the place and time of my birth are top-secret, highly confidential information that only a select few in the Psychonauts are deemed worthy of-“

“It’s July 23rd.”

Lili choked. “ _Raz_!”

“What?”

“It’s _top secret_! It _really is_!” Lili exclaimed, her face now red.

“Lil, that’s a load of crap and everyone knows it. Even the guys back at camp know it. They’re just too scared of you to say anything about it.”

Still almost as red as a tomato, Lili turned away, crossed her arms, and glared daggers at the floor.

“And done!” Mabel held the notebook up proudly. She brought it back down, rereading its contents. “That wasn’t so bad, was it? Now we all know each other’s birthdays, and I’ve got a handy note in case anyone… wait a minute…”

Mabel closely examined the notebook. Meanwhile, Lili’s eyes widened, and she silently tried to make herself smaller.

“Lili?”

“…yeah?”

“July 23rd was just _last week_.”

“Um… well…” Lili nervously scratched her cheek.

“You had a birthday party and you didn’t tell anyone about it?!” Mabel shrieked, slamming her fists on the table.

“Wha-? No!” Lili quickly denied. “I-I didn’t even… had… one…”

Mabel’s look of outrage quickly turned into one of pure, unbridled horror. “Y-you… you had a birthday and _you didn’t celebrate it with a birthday party_?!”

“Uh…”

“This is _unacceptable_! We are fixing this _right now_!”

“Wha-“

Before Lili can react, Mabel’s already dragging her by the hand towards the door.

“This is a bit sudden and my party-organizing skills are a bit rusty, so this won’t be the best birthday party you ever had, but Mabel is gonna make sure that it will still be a _darn good party_!”

“Wait, hold on, no, no, _no_ , _no_ , _no_!” But it was already too late. Mabel has an iron grip on her hand and a determination to throw Lili a birthday party. There’s nothing that can be done as Mabel dragged Lili out of the room.

“Please! Raz! Anyone! Help!” Lili’s cries for help can still be heard from outside the room, slowly growing fainter and fainter. “ _Save me_!”

The remaining Mystery Kids simply watched the scene unravel with amusement.

“You know that was gonna happen, don’t you?” Coraline turned to Raz, an eyebrow raised.

Raz tried his best to shrug innocently. “Maybe.”

“I’d give Lili an hour before she dies of embarrassment.” remarked Dipper.

“Not if she sets Mabel on fire first.” Raz added.

They got a good chuckle out of that. They spent a few more moments looking at the door where Mabel and Lili left, still amused by what happened.

“We should probably make sure they don’t actually kill each other.”

A cacophony of affirmations followed as the remaining six hurried to catch up to the duo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t worry, both Mabel and Lili survived the day. Barely.
> 
> So this is kinda short and that is because this is what I call a backup chapter. I had midterms so the chapter I was working on wasn’t ready. I whipped this one out pretty quick so I can stick to my schedule.
> 
> This came from a conversation I had with a couple of friends about the zodiacs that the kids has. The twins are the only ones with canon birthdays, by the way. The others are just my personal headcanon.
> 
> (Although, there actually is a Friday the 13th on an October in the year 2000. If the movie takes place in 2012 and Norman was 11 in the movie, then that works pretty well as Norman’s date of birth.)


	12. Keeping Low

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, you just need sit things out.

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured here.**

**Keeping Low**

“Stay down.” Wybie firmly told her, a hand on both of her shoulders.

Coraline’s response was to glower up at him. “Not a chance.” she snarled.

Coraline again removed Wybie’s grip on her shoulders and tried to rise from her sitting position, but just like before, it wasn’t long before she clutched the right side of her chest and cried out in pain, falling back to her original position. Wybie always hated seeing her like this, all battered and bruised, but he’s been forcing himself to be accustomed to it. It’s just something that happens once in a while when your hobby involves supernatural creatures with serious anger management problems.

What he hates even more is convincing her to stay down once it’s clear that she can’t get back up.

“Jonesy, you can sit this one out. W-we got this under control, I-I think.” Wybie gave her the most reassuring smile he can muster given the circumstances.

The ground suddenly shook, quickly followed by a cry of pain. Wybie turned his head to the direction of the sound. He can only see the trees and the silhouette of the monster through the thick fog. He’s not even sure whose scream it was. Maybe it’s Neil’s? It kind of sounds like Neil’s.

Wybie rubbed her hands, looking down at Coraline again. The look on her face says that she’s still determined to get back into the fray. Whether or not she actually can doesn’t seem to concern her.

Maybe some logic can dissuade her? “That thing picked you up and slammed you against a tree, Jonesy. That’s several broken ribs, _at least_.”

“So _what_?! I’m not sitting out ‘til this thing is six feet under!” Of course logic didn’t work. Well, it was a long shot anyway, he supposed.

Still clutching the right side of his chest in pain, Coraline tried to reach for her machete. The weapon lay on the ground a few feet away from her. Inch by inch, she crawled towards it, groaning and grunting in pain all the while. Halfway through, she paused. She was breathing heavily. It looks like the pain is starting overwhelm her, even if she would never admit it. The expression on her face gave Wybie a hint of the pain she’s in.

He really, _really_ hated seeing her like this.

Wybie grabbed hold of her shoulder again. “Coraline, _please_.”

Coraline looked up at him, her expression softer this time. “Y-you are in a lot of pain. I know you wanna, but you can’t fight right now. It’s just- you just can’t. I’m sorry.”

Coraline averted her gaze, mumbling, “I hate that you’re right.”

Wybie sighed in relief. At least now he can stop worrying about Coraline hurting herself even further. The only thing he has to worry about now is the _thing_ currently in an out-of-control rampage. Objectively speaking, that is so much better.

As gently as possible, Wybie helped Coraline move to sit against a tree. “Don’t worry too much about us, Coraline. I-I know it looks bad right now, but we’ve been through worse scraps before, right?” he said as he helped her move.

“We sure did.” Coraline chuckled lightly as she tried to make herself as comfortable as possible in her new position. “You trolls go and kick that thing’s ass real good for me, y’hear?”

Wybie grinned. She’s still the same old Coraline. “Sure thing, ma’am.”

Wybie dashed off towards his bike that he parked a few feet away. He mounted it and quickly started up the engine. He turned to Coraline one last time and saluted at her, which she replied with a salute of her own. He faced forward again, gazing into the thick fog. The ground shook again, this time accompanied by a shrill roar.

Wybie gulped, and rode off into the fog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a quick thing I made in about two hours. Inspired by a prompt I saw on Tumblr.  
> Sorry for the lack of updates. College is really starting to pick up and I got sidetracked by a couple of different projects. Rather than going months without another chapter, I thought I’d write shorter stuff like these that I can do in one sitting. Hope y’all like it.


	13. Being A Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Why are you here? With us? Doing... this?"

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters featured here.**

**Being a Friend**

Coraline’s eyes fluttered open, only to see a blur of shapes and colors, but after only a few moments her eyes regained its focus, finding that she is staring at a wooden ceiling. The wooden ceiling of the twins’ room, to be exact, judging from some of the posters that she can see in her peripheral hanging on the wall. The slightly ragged but still soft bed below her smells somewhat pleasant, so she can only assume she’s lying on Mabel’s bed. Some sort of commotion is happening on the other side of the room, just outside of her field of vision. That must have been what woke her up from her nap. She can’t help but sigh just a little bit. It was such a nice nap.

Coraline tried to push herself up to see what’s going on, and she’s quickly reminded why she is in bed in the first place as a sudden, searing pain from her lower left abdomen shot through her entire body. She grunted in pain, and she can hear a pause in the commotion beside her. Not long after, Dipper’s face entered her field of view.

“Good to see you up. Kind of.” he smiled. His expression then turned to one of concern. “Take it easy, though. You took a _beating_ back there. You’re probably bedbound for a few days.”

“You’re not the boss of me.” Coraline weakly replied.

Dipper shrugged. “Your funeral.”

His face then left Coraline’s field of view. Coraline laid her head back, closing her eyes as the commotion continued for some time beside her. Eventually, the commotion died down, followed by the sound of footsteps leaving the room.

From the door, Coraline can hear the gentle and concerned voice of Mabel saying, “Rest up, guys. We’ll be back soon with something that’ll help you feel better.”

“’Kay.” A voice beside her said. Coraline just managed a grunt in reply.

She heard the door close, and for a few minutes after that, there is nothing but silence.

“I’m… glad you’re alive.”

Coraline turned her head to the source of the voice, finding it to be Neil, sitting on the edge of Dipper’s bed with his right foot bandaged up. Apparently, he is her fellow injured Mystery Kid.

“Well… me too.” Coraline replied simply. Usually, she would have said something better, but getting tossed around like a ragdoll doesn’t exactly do wonders to your wit.

“Man, _that_ was _crazy_.” Neil said, combing a hand through his curly hair. “I think that was one of the roughest ones we’ve ever had.”

Coraline one-hundred percent agreed with that statement. “And there’s still plenty more where that came from.” she said, followed with a dry, humorless chuckle.

“… Bring it on.” Neil boldly stated with a grin after a moment of silence. “I’ll probably regret that by tomorrow, but I don’t care.”

Coraline looked at him, sitting there, with a bandaged foot and a big grin adorning his face. She took a moment to observe him, to really, _properly_ , look at him. A young kid, all smiles and grins practically all the time, who really has no business dabbling with the supernatural, even more so than the rest of the Kids. A kid with no strings tangling him to this secret, dark side of the world they live in. With all of that in her mind, a question formed.

“Why are you here?”

“Oh! Uh, I think I twisted my ankle.”

“No! No, I mean-” Coraline cleared her throat, and then started again. “I mean, why are you here? With us? Doing… this?”

His expression turned to a frown. “Do you… not want me around anymore?”

“No, I don’t mean that!” God, that’s the last thing she wants him to think. “I don’t mind having you around! Honest!”

“I’m just…” Coraline shrugged, trying as best she can to not move her body around too much, “… curious.”

The frown on Neil’s face now shifts to a look of confusion. Coraline then promptly continued. “You know… the twins and Wybie, they turned out to have family chest-deep in all this supernatural stuff, Raz and Lili are secret psychic agents, Norman is… well, Norman, and I’ve been marked by the Beldam, and _apparently_ that’s just the start. We all have a reason why we have to get involved in this. But you…” she weakly pointed at him with a finger, “Compared to us, you’re perfectly normal. So, why? Why are you here with us?”

Neil was silent, eyes completely wide, staring at the ground. He looks absolutely flabbergasted. Coraline kind of felt bad just dropping that on him now. This is probably not what he expected from a conversation with her. She decided not to rush him and let him come up with an answer on his own pace.

About a full minute passed before Neil finally looked up at her again. “I’m just… friends with you?” he answered, not sounding too sure of his answer himself, “Well, I’m friends with Norman, and he likes all this supernatural stuff, and he’s kinda been through a lot, so I just wanna be a friend for him and be there for him while he enjoys himself.”

“And then I met you guys. I’m friends with all of you now, too. The more I know you guys, the more I realize that you all have been through a lot too. So, I want to be there for you too.”

Neil scratched the back of his neck. “I know I don’t really contribute all that much to the team. I’m not as strong as you or Raz, and I’m not smart like Dipper or Wybie, but I don’t care. I just wanna be there for you guys and help out in any way I can.”

“I just… want to be a friend.” he finished, his expression now adorning a bright, beaming smile.

Now it’s Coraline’s turn to be speechless. She did not expect that at all from Neil.

“Wow. That is…” Coraline found herself smiling back to him. “Thank you.”

At this, Neil suddenly sighed in relief and started chuckling. “So. That’s… a question, alright.”

“Yeah… sorry for suddenly dropping it on you like that.” Coraline replied with a grimace, slightly embarrassed.

“Good thing I remembered about a song I really like. It helped out a lot.” Neil grinned with a finger raised.

Coraline raised a brow. “Did it now?”

“Yeah, so it goes like, ‘ _Right from the start, couldn't pull us apart…’_ ”.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to-”

“… _Nobody else ever gets me as well on this earth_ _. Like rock and roll, Marshall's and telly's_ …”

Oh. Oh no. He’s full-on singing. She can’t get away. Her body still hurts all over. Oh, mistakes were made.

Coraline sighed. Live and learn, she supposed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one’s based on a prompt I found on Tumblr.
> 
> Another quick one I made in about three hours. I really want to make more, honest, but the inspiration and the time for it is really hard to come by.
> 
> Anyway, longtime readers might have noticed a few chapters are missing now. That’s because I deleted them quite some time ago. I just felt that they’re not a good representative of my current writing skills, so I don’t want to turn down new readers by too many subpar early chapters.
> 
> Hope you have a good day.


	14. Picture Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scrapbooking is actually a lot of fun! Especially when it’s about your awesome team.

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters featured here.**

**Picture Day**

Neil used to give his grandpa so much flak for his scrapbooking hobby. He used to think it was so _lame_. It was just such a ‘grandpa’ thing to do, which now that he is thinking about it, that’s probably why his grandpa was into it in the first place. Oh, if only his grandpa could look at him now, suddenly making his own scrapbook, completely on his own. Scrapbooking, as it turns out, is actually a lot of fun! He kind of wish he could take back all of the mean things he ever said about scrapbooking to his grandpa now. Maybe he’ll do that the next time he meets grandpa. Or, if grandpa’s still lingering around, he’ll ask Norman to pass a message along. Maybe also an apology because technically it _was_ Neil’s dare that caused him to choke and collapse his lung. He kind of felt bad for that one too.

Anyway, scrapbooking! A _lot_ of fun! Especially when the subject material is about his mystery-hunting, paranormal-busting, and monster-killing team. Right now, he’s in the photo-collecting phase of the scrapbooking process. That photo collection will be split into two different categories; ‘on the hunt’ photos and ‘chilling out’ photos. Getting the first category was a total cakewalk; the team was already taking photos whenever they can while on missions, usually by Dipper or by yours truly, so it was only a matter of compiling and printing them all. The second category takes quite a bit more effort. That is why he’s been going around with his phone, taking candid shots of his friends as they go about their everyday business. He took extra effort to make sure the shots were candid, so the result looks as natural as possible. So far, he’s already got a shot or two of almost everyone in the team. Now, it’s time to photograph the most dangerous one of them all.

Lili.

Carefully peeking around the corner, Neil quickly scanned the backyard of the Shack. Just as he predicted, Lili was there, tending to her small garden that she set up a bit near the woods. Neil watched as Lili poured out a delicate stream of water from a watering can onto a tiny sapling, smiling contently all the while. She set the watering can aside, bent down closer to the sapling, and started murmuring and ever so gently petting the tiny sapling. Seeing this, Neil’s first reaction was to practically melt at the unexpected but still adorable sight before him. He quickly shook himself out of it though; now is not the time to dwell on cute things. Any other day, sure, but today, he’s on a mission. A scrapbooking mission.

Neil whipped out his phone, opened the camera app, and took aim. Going through the steps that he’s done dozens of time by now; zooming in, steadying his arm, waiting for the camera to focus. Guessing that he has a perfect shot, Neil pressed the button.

_Click!_

That distinctive, quiet click occurred as the picture was taken. Unexpectedly, and unfortunately, the quiet click was also accompanied by a bright, white flash.

Lili’s head whipped to his direction.

Neil froze.

_Forgot to turn the flash off, oh shi-_

Neil barely got two steps away before his feet was pulled out from under him, suddenly finding himself dangling upside down lifted up by his right foot. The environment rushed past him, before he is suddenly facing the upside down, very annoyed face of Lili Zanotto.

“Uh…” Right, time to think of something to say fast before she does something horrible to him. “… how’s it hanging?”

“I’m giving you ten seconds to explain yourself.”

“Uh, taking pictures! For a scrapbook! That I’m making! About us!” Neil quickly blurted out. He thought it’s probably the best to just tell the truth, especially when you’re hanging upside down in the mercy of a psychic.

Lili’s eyes narrowed. “Since when were you into scrapbooking?”

“Yesterday!”

“Uh huh.” Lili nodded slowly. Neil does his best to look innocent. ”And the sneaking around? What’s up with that?”

“So the picture can look as natural as possible! The camera can change people, you know. I read about that online.” Neil stated, hands on his hips. Lili looks like he’s kind of amused by, which is probably a good thing. At least she’s not getting angrier. Well, she doesn’t _look_ like she’s getting angrier.

“Also if you have to hang me upside down by the foot, if you can just switch over to my left leg, that’d be great. The right one is still kind of healing.” Neil quickly added. Again, right now honesty is the best policy.

Lili rolled her eyes, but nonetheless Neil felt himself being positioned the right side up and then gently dropped to the ground. Neil dusts himself off and shook off the slight disorientation he felt from being upside down. He looked at Lili, who is still staring at him with her arms crossed.

“Soo…” Neil started awkwardly, “does that mean you’re not gonna kill me? I’m free to go?”

Lili never broke eye contact with him, but he did notice that, for a split second, her eyes darted down to the phone in his hands. “Depends.”

“On…?” With that stare on him, Neil couldn’t help but be nervous.

“If you got my good side.”

Neil has no idea how she can switch from being serious to relaxed so quickly, but she did it anyway. Besides, he’d much prefer her like this, all calm and relaxed. All that anger and death-by-fire stuff should just be saved for all the nasties they go up against.

Neil, in turn, relaxed as well; the smile on his face switching from awkward to a more genuine one. “Lil, you’re all good sides.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” she said, extending a hand out, motioning for his phone. Neil easily handed it to her. He himself is curious to see how the pictured turned out. He didn’t really get a chance to look at it before he was psychically snatched up by the foot.

“Also,” she added, pausing from opening the phone, her expression darkening slightly, “you _don’t_ get to call me ‘Lil’.”

Neil quickly, and nervously, nodded his head. Important survival tip, that.

After giving him just a second more of that dark look, Lili turned her attention to the phone in her hand. Cautiously, Neil sidled up to her, looking over her shoulder to see how the picture ended up. The answer to that, as it turns out, is pretty good. The picture caught her as she is fondly gazing down on a little sapling and, aside from a slight strange white glow that is probably from the flash, the picture looks _really_ good.

“See?”

Neil can see that Lili is mulling over her words a bit. “It’s… me.” she finally said.

“Yep!” Neil grinned, quite proud of his work. “Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.”

“I… guess the angle is nice.” was all she said as a reply.

“So, yeah, I’ve just been going around taking pictures of the team.” he explained. “We already have plenty of pictures of us ‘on the hunt’, so I thought it’d be nice to have some where we’re just, y’know, chilling out.”

Lili raised an eyebrow at this. “You already took pictures of the others?”

Neil nodded in reply, followed with a sheepish chuckle. “You’re actually the last one. Because, I thought something like this might happen. Just… I thought worse things might happen?”

“Smart move.” Lili said, looking away from the phone for a moment to give him a side-eye, “How you went about doing it wasn’t very smart, though.”

“Well… it worked with Raz, so I thought…” Neil finished the sentence with a small shrug.

“I’m not Raz.” Lili said, quite curtly.

She looked down at the phone again, swiping her fingers to the left of the screen. The picture changed, now showing one of Mabel as she pouring out some sort of _very_ glittery liquid from a pitcher into one of eight mugs, taken from the side. A determined smile adorned her face as she is pouring out the liquid, and one can also Waddles near Mabel’s feet at the bottom right of the picture.

“That’s from this morning. First one I took.” Neil explained, unprompted. “So, if you see her approach with a tray full of mugs-”

“Run like hell. Appreciate the warning.”

He was _about_ to say ‘try it out for me because I am going to be so busy scrapbooking I don’t think I have the time to properly taste it’ but, okay?

Lili swiped left again, the picture on screen changing to one of Wybie now, in his workshop seemingly doing maintenance on his bike. All is normal on that front. However, Wybie’s face is locked in an expression of alarm, the blur around his form suggesting that he is moving, recoiling from the burst of black smoke coming from his bike’s engine.

“This looks interesting.” Lili smirked, glancing at Neil with a curious look.

“Ahaha, that…” Neil fidgeted in place for a moment, “let’s just say this was not the first time I forgot to turn the flash off today.”

Lili shook her head, no doubt amused. “He’s cool with it, though. Said it happens all the time.” Neil quickly added.

Lili swiped left again, the screen now showing a rather close-up picture of Coraline from this morning as she is in the middle of doing some push-ups. However, before Neil can give some info about the picture, Lili already swiped left again. The screen now shows Coraline again, but this time she is currently doing sit-ups. Again, Lili quickly switched to the next picture. This one is, again, of Coraline, now in the middle of a sprint.

“W-why are there so many pictures of Coraline?” Lili finally asked. Neil can’t help but sense some… nervousness in her voice? Why is that?

“Well, I caught her while she’s doing her morning exercises, and after I took the first picture, she saw me, and then she told to me to just… keep taking pictures? So, I did.”

Lili doesn’t seem to have much of a reaction to his answer. She kept swiping left, seeing some more pictures of Coraline during her exercise, and there are quite a few of them. There is one of Coraline taking a swing at a punching bag, one of her doing some jumping jacks, and finally, Lili arrived at the last picture he took of Coraline if his memory serves correctly, one of her as she is doing some pull-ups.

Neil expected her to quickly swipe left again - the next batch of pictures are of Raz, so she might be interested in that - but instead, she just… lingered on that one picture… for quite some time. He took a moment to observe Lili further and… there seems to be a slight reddish tint to her cheeks? Also, she’s… biting her lip?

“Uh…”

Abruptly, Lili clutched the phone close to her. Neil can just barely see her rapidly tapping the phone’s screen, doing… something. Just as abruptly as before, Lili suddenly shoved the phone back to Neil’s hand, before walking away at a brisk pace.

“I’mdonelookingbye.” she _very_ quickly said as she walked away.

Neil watched her leave with a cocked head as she walked the short distance to the Shack, disappearing inside. He then turned his attention to his phone and quickly opened it, curious to see exactly what Lili did. It looks like she… sent a picture to her own phone? The picture in question is the one where Coraline is doing some pull-ups, the one that she lingered on before.

Why would Lili send that herself? If she’d just ask, he would have gladly sent the picture to her.

Weird.

Oh well. He finally has all the pictures he needed! Time to make this scrapbook a reality!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If someone actually makes a real life MK scrapbook, I will give you my firstborn. (Also I have some interesting stuff planned for Lili)
> 
> Well, this one kinda got out of hand. Took three whole sessions to get this right, though the second one was only, like, half an hour long. Inspired by a prompt again, but I honestly forgot which prompt it was halfway through making this.
> 
> To whoever took their time to read this, hope you have a good day.


End file.
